


It's Just Show Business

by RomeandOtherHistory



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex is the main character of the story, Also Caleb isn't that bad, And Willex, And he needs closure on what happened with his family, Because I'm realizing he's my comfort character, But actual people, But he's pretty ok if you befriend him, But this is mostly Juke, Depictions of grief, F/F, F/M, Gives Trevor Wilson/Bobby's backstory, Guys I don't know how to do tags but pls just read this, He's more of just a nuisance that likes to make life difficult, Hopefully they are, IDK if they're accurate tho, Julie and Flynn are better detectives than actual detectives, M/M, Multi, Murder Mystery AU, Reggie x Luke and Alex x Luke is mentioned, TW mentions and depictions of abuse, They are my religion, What if the hotdogs didn't kill the guys, Why Carrie hates Julie, Would ship Ruke, juke, tw homophobia, tw stalking, tw violence, willex, yall this is gonna be hardcore just a warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:29:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27703484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomeandOtherHistory/pseuds/RomeandOtherHistory
Summary: It was never supposed to end this way. Sunset Curve was supposed to be playing in the Orpheum in front of a massive, cheering crowd. Not lying in the middle of the alleyway with no way to scream for help. (Murder Mystery AU)
Relationships: Alex/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 57
Kudos: 116





	1. Chapter 1

Rose slipped on her leather jacket and let out a breath. It was her first day working in the Orpheum, which wasn't exactly her dream job but apparently as close as she was going to get to ever joining a band. Not that she was going to complain, though. Getting so see bands perform live every single day was spectacular in its own right. Tonight was a rising band called "Sunset Curve." 

Although Rose knew nothing of this band, she was intrigued. They were only seventeen and yet they seemed to have the biggest chance of becoming huge out of any of the recent bands that had played at the Orpheum. They were coming to the Orpheum early to practice before their performance, and so Rose wanted to be early too. 

To finish her look, Rose applied some lip gloss and slipped on some earrings through the holes in her ears. Her clock chimed. One...Two...Three...Four. Rose gasped. She was supposed to be at the Orpheum in fifteen minutes, and she hadn't even left her apartment. 

"So much for being early," she muttered to herself. 

Rose ran out of her apartment and down the steps as fast as she could in her heels. She ran out of the apartment and out onto the sidewalk, her heels clicking on the sidewalk. Looking around for taxies, Rose continued to walk in the direction of the Orpheum. If she walked quickly, she could make it in time, but she would prefer to take a cab. However, there were none in sight, so Rose just hoisted her purse higher on her shoulder and continued down the sidewalk. 

She let out a sigh of relief as the Orpheum came into view. Just was she was about to enter the building, Rose felt a tap on her shoulder. Two men stood there, wearing heavy jackets with the hoods up and the zipper all the way up over their mouth even though it was hardly chilly. 

"Ma'am, our friends are going to be performing here tonight. But we weren't able to buy tickets to the show and we're certainly not allowed to come in during practice. Once they're finished practicing, do you mind telling them to meet us down the alleyway? We own a hotdog stand and we want to treat them before their performance," one of the men explained. 

"Oh! Um...sure." Rose got an odd feeling in her stomach. "Why are you wearing coats like that? It's hardly sixty degrees!" 

"Ah...see...we just barely moved here from Mexico. I know, I know, we don't look it, but we moved there for a few years and so now anything below seventy feels freezing," the other explained with a laugh. 

Rose relaxed, letting out a laugh herself. "Of course! I used to live in Mexico too, and it's certainly very warm. Your friends are members of Sunset Curve?" 

"Yes. But-" one of the men stopped her again as she turned to leave. "Only Luke and Alex. We aren't that close to the other two. And...we kind of want to make it a surprise. Just suggest that they grab food and guide them in our direction." 

Rose nodded. "Sure. I'll do that." 

"Thanks, darlin'." The taller of the two men handed her a wad of cash. 

"Oh, that's not-" 

"Oh, hush, you're really helping us out. See you later, ma'am." 

Then, they turned and walked away, leaving Rose to question what had just occurred. 

...

The last chord of "Now or Never" hung in the air. Luke spread his arms out as if to greet the applause of a massive audience. But, there was only the applause of Rose. Which was fine. This was just supposed to be a practice with no audience at all. So, having her there was a good bit of practice. 

"Whoo!" she cheered. "Yeah!" 

"Thank you, we're Sunset Curve," Reggie announced, winking at Rose as he did so. 

Luke rolled his eyes with a smile as he set down his guitar, Bobby coming over and bumping arms with Luke. "Too bad we wasted that on the soundcheck. That was the tightest we've ever played!" 

"Oh, wait until tonight, man, when this place gets PACKED with record execs!" Luke exclaimed excitedly, bouncing on his feet. 

"Alex, you were smoking," Reggie complimented the drummer, who shrugged. 

"Oh, no, I was just warming up. YOU guys were the ones on fire!" he protested. 

"Could you just own your awesomeness for once?!" Reggie pointed at Alex. 

Alex turned around to look at Luke before swinging back to face Reggie with a grin. "Alright, I was killing it!" 

"Okay, well I'm thinking we fuel up before the show. I'm thinking street dogs," Luke suggested, earning an "Oooo!" from Reggie and a "Yes!" from Alex. 

The three of them turned to see Bobby already walking away from the stage and towards Rose, all of them jumping off to chase after him, Luke closest behind. "Hey Bobby! Where are you going?" 

"I'm good." Bobby waved them off as he leaned on the table across from rose. "Vegetarian. I could never hurt an animal." 

Rose smiled at them. "You guys are really good." 

"Thank you." They all smiled back at her. 

"I see a lot of bands. Been in a couple myself," Rose informed them. "I was really feeling it." 

"That's what we do this for." Luke pushed his way past Bobby and held out his hand. "I'm Luke, by the way." 

"Hi! I'm Reggie!" Reggie exclaimed excitedly. 

"Alex," Alex said, clearly not in the flirtatious mood that his bandmates were in. 

"Bobby," Bobby introduced himself with a nod of his head and a grin. 

"Nice meeting you guys." Rose leaned forward. "I'm Rose." 

"Oh! Uh..." Reggie reached down and pulled out a shirt and a disc. "Here's our demo. And a t-shirt, size beautiful." 

This made Alex sigh and shake his head in either disappointment or in a gesture of "I knew he'd act like this". 

Rose took the shirt and disc and help the shirt up to herself, politely nodding. "Thanks. I'll make sure not to wipe the tables down with this one" 

"Oh! Good call! Whenever they get wet they just kind of...fall apart in your hands..." Alex trailed off. 

"Don't you guys have to...go get hot dogs?" Bobby asked, clearly telling them to back off from Rose. 

"Yeah..." Luke rolled his eyes. "He had a hamburger for lunch." 

He, Alex, and Reggie all turned to leave, Reggie smacking Bobby's arm before they left in a teasing sort of way. Then, Rose remembered what the two men had told her. 

"Wait!" she exclaimed. "Alex, Luke, two of your friends said that they wanted to treat you. They're waiting for you in the alley across from here." 

"Huh. Just friends of Alex and I?" Luke raised an eyebrow. "Strange. Reggie, come along. I'm sure they won't mind." 

They stepped out onto the street, Luke swinging the doors open. "That's what I'm talking about!" 

"The...smell of sunset boulevard?" Alex asked, looking over at Reggie. 

"No," Luke chuckled as they walked down the alley, slinging his arms over their shoulders. "What that girl said in there tonight. 'Bout our music, right? It's like an energy connects us with people! They can feel us when we play! Yo, I want that connection with everybody." 

"Then we're gonna need more t-shirts," Reggie said, earning a chuckle from Alex and Luke. 

"Let's go, boys!" Luke exclaimed. 

They continued down the street, walking past some fans waiting. Reggie rushed over to some girls, handing them each a shirt with a "ladies" and a wink. It took them a second, but then they realized who he was, squealing and yelling "Reggie! It's Reggie! Reggie, it's me!" 

Walking further down the alley across the street, the three boys got a weird feeling, Reggie pulling Luke closer to him. "Are you sure this is where we're supposed to be?" 

"Yeah..." Luke didn't sound so sure. "Hey, Reggie, can you head back and ask Rose if this was the right place?" 

Reggie nodded. "Gladly." 

He turned and quickly walked away, ready to leave that dark and eerie-feeling alleyway, grateful when he entered into the light of the street. He took a deep breath and crossed the street back to the Orpheum. Reggie discreetly passed the fans and made it inside, breathless as he walked up to Rose. 

"Hey...it's the alleyway right across from Sunset Boulevard, right?" he asked. 

She nodded. "That should be the one. I just remembered that it was supposed to be a surprise...so maybe they're just hiding. Can you tell them I'm sorry for spoiling the surprise?" 

Reggie nodded. "Sure." 

He ran back outside and was about to cross the street when he was stopped by the two girls that he had given shirts to. They thanked him for them and then asked if he could sign them. Reggie, of course, could not resist and agreed. As he carefully signed their shirts as nicely as he could, they chattered on and on, asking him several questions. He smiled weakly-sorry that he couldn't stay longer-and apologized to them, but he had to hurry and catch up to Luke and Alex. 

Running into the alley, Reggie found that they were not where he left them. "Alex? Luke? Where are you guys?" 

No answer. 

"Guys...you better not be messing with me." Reggie wrapped his coat tighter around himself. "You know I don't like being scared. Now please just come out. Rose told me we're going in the right direction." 

"Reggie..." he heard Luke whisper. 

"Luke?" Reggie spun around in all directions, finally spotting Luke propped up against the back wall of a building. "Luke!" 

He ran over to his friend and was horrified to see bright red blooming across his front. "Oh, no, Luke are you hurt?! Did Alex go to get help?!" 

"Reggie..." Luke grabbed his hand. "Run." 

"No, Luke, I'm staying right here until Alex gets back," Reggie said stubbornly. 

"Run!" Luke tried to stand up, but hissed in pain and settled back down. "Run. Get the police. An ambulance. Please. Alex...they took Alex. I don't know where...he..." 

Luke coughed, blood flecking his fist. Reggie was beginning to panic, his heart pounding. Who was "they?" Why was Luke hurt? Where was Alex? What was happening? 

A figure appeared beside Reggie. "Hey! You!" 

Reggie stood up, paling. Luke yelled at him again to run, and Reggie finally did just that. Except, in his panic, he did not run in the direction of the street. He ran further into the alleyway, through twisting and turning streets and dirt pathways in hopes of losing his pursuer. He turned a corner and saw another figure standing there, silhouetted against the only light in the alley. 

And there, on the ground, was Alex. 

He wasn't breathing. He wasn't moving. The ground was stained with something dark that Reggie prayed had been there before Alex was there. Maybe he was just passed out. Maybe this man in the alleyway was just here to help. But Reggie knew he was lying to himself. 

Reggie turned to keep running but the other man was there, so he resorted to screaming. "Help! Somebody! Help! Please!" 

He fought and kicked and did everything he could to escape, but there was only so much he could do. 

Then, all was silent. It was as though someone flipped the switch on the volume to the world on "off." No crickets sang. The street noise was gone as well. Then, it resumed. All except for the voice of the teenager who had begged for his life. 

Reggie was still alive though. He just couldn't speak. He couldn't breathe. All he could do was look through half-lidded eyes. Then, he shut them immediately. His only view was Alex. 

Alex...Alex who just moments before had been alive and breathing and had laughed and sang and...would never do it again. What about Luke? Where was he? Did he make it? Did he find help? Would...

Would he die alone? 

From watching murder mystery movies with his sister, Reggie had always thought that the most horrible way to die would be by suffocation. In a way, he was suffocating. But it was from the dozens of stab wounds that pierced his stomach, his lungs, and even his throat. He could feel his lungs filling with blood but he couldn't cough it out because the air wouldn't even go into his mouth. 

"Put him here. With the other two. May as well make the crime scene more confusing for the cops." 

There was a voice. A thump. Reggie didn't dare open his eyes because he knew that would be Luke. So they got him too. None of them were going to live, but at least Reggie felt the small amount of assurance that...at least they were together. 

"He's not dead yet, though."

"He will be. Just like the other two. We gotta get outta here anyway. The last one really made some noise. No doubt that someone has at least called in a noise complaint." 

There was the sound of footsteps retreating. Then, Reggie felt a hand cling to his. Luke. Luke was still alive. Reggie tried to do something. Anything. He had to show Luke that he was alive as well. 

But he couldn't. Everything hurt. It was too much to ask of his broken body. Then, it didn't hurt anymore. And odd sort of warmth passed through Reggie. Another thing Reggie had always thought was that dying would be terrifying. It wasn't. Before dying was the terrifying part, but actually dying was...oddly relieving. 

"I'm so sorry," Luke choked out. "It should've just been me. Only me." 

And that was the last thing Reggie heard.


	2. Chapter 2

"The case remains: Unsolved." 

Julie sighed, pulling her earbuds out. Flynn had finally convinced her to binge Buzzfeed Unsolved, despite her many protests. She had to admit it; she was hooked. Except on the Cold Cases. Something about them...just bothered her immensely. Julie preferred the cases that had to do with paranormal things; ghosts, demons, she could handle that. Because she knew that they weren't real. Just two guys messing around and trying to find some cryptids. 

But the unsolved cases? Those were actual people who had actually died who actually had friends and family and people who loved them and cared about them. 

"So, what did you think?" Julie turned around to see Flynn standing behind her, grinning. "C'mon, that HAD to be Buzzfeed Unsolved you were just listening to." 

"It was," Julie admitted. "You've got me hooked." 

"I KNEW it!" Flynn exclaimed excitedly. "Which case was your favorite?" 

"Oh, see, that's the thing...I don't like the cold cases. Just the...ghosts and demon stuff." 

"What?" Flynn stared at her in disbelief. "But the cold cases are the biggest part of Buzzfeed Unsolved. Hence the "Unsolved"! Why don't you like them?!" 

"They're just...depressing." Julie opened her locker to put some things inside. "I don't like hearing about all the families who have missing kids who still haven't been found or people who were murdered that have no justice." 

"Alright. That's fair," Flynn said, opening her own locker. "Hey, I've got an idea for what we can do after school!" 

"Oh? What is it?" Julie asked. "Nothing dangerous, right?" 

"No, not dangerous," Flynn told her innocently. "It's a surprise." 

"I don't trust your surprises," Julie laughed. "It better not be illegal." 

Flynn shrugged. "Dunno. I think it's fine." 

"Flynn, your definition of 'fine' once almost got the police called on us," Julie reminded her. 

"Fine, fine, it MIGHT be illegal." 

Julie rolled her eyes and smiled. "Sorry Flynn, but count me out." 

"But Julie! You'll love it!" Flynn put a hand on her shoulder. "Please?" 

Pursing her lips, Julie caved. "Fine. But if we get arrested, YOU have to pay for bail." 

"Deal." 

...

"I'm fairly sure this is what anyone sane would call 'illegal.'" 

Julie stood beside Flynn, who was picking the lock to the back door of the Orpheum. The Orpheum had been abandoned for nearly a decade, and no one quite knew why. People just...stopped showing up. Shows would go with hardly a ticket bought, bands would reject offer after offer to play, and, overall, the place just seemed to be cursed with bad luck. 

On top of that, people said that it was haunted. 

The past five years before it was abandoned, the Orpheum experienced strange technological issues. Lights would go out in the middle of performances. Microphones would fizzle and spark. Electric instruments would refuse to play. Employees would often find themselves locked in rooms that shouldn't have locked and swore that they could hear the faint sound of footsteps following them almost constantly. Some even had psychological tests taken to make sure that they weren't going crazy, only to quit as soon as they found out that they were, in fact, sane. 

"Chill, Jules, I just wanna show you something cool I found," Flynn explained. "I was here yesterday and-" 

"Wait, you've already broken in?! Flynn, I know that the Orpheum is abandoned but it's still property! Someone owns this place!" Julie whisper-shouted. 

"And they clearly never stop by. Now come on." The door swung open and Flynn put her hands on her hips proudly. "I PROMISE that you won't regret this." 

Hesitantly, Julie followed Flynn inside. She already hated how cold it was in that place. Especially since she knew that there was no way they were running the air conditioner. "Flynn, I really don't like this place. We should get out of here." 

"Just real quick, Julie, it's just ONE thing," Flynn assured her. "Look." 

She opened the door to one of the storage rooms, and Julie couldn't stop the "whoa" that left her mouth. There was a full set of instruments, and not just any instruments. Customized instruments with the words "Sunset Curve" printed across them along with what must've been the band's symbol. Also, they were the only things in the room that weren't covered in dust. In fact, they looked brand new. 

"This is kinda cool," Julie admitted. "But...isn't it strange to you that these look like they were just bought and put here?" 

"I know, right?" Flynn agreed. "I think it means that they're reopening the Orpheum!" 

"I'm not too sure about that. I mean...with something as big as reopening the Orpheum, you'd think there'd be a whole bunch of publicity, maybe some construction workers to renovate and clean the place?" Julie pointed out. "Now, can we go?" 

"Nope!" Flynn crouched down and picked up a large backpack and began looking through it. "We're gonna do some snooping." 

"Geez," Julie muttered, but she was soon digging through a bin full of papers. "Cool! These are all the bands that played here!" 

"Julie, look at this!" Flynn started waving a piece of paper in front of Julie. "It's music!" 

"Of course it's music, we're in the Orpheum." Julie took the paper from Flynn and looked at it. "Whoa. This is a good song." 

"Wanna play it?" Flynn asked and Julie stared at her. 

"Flynn, you know how I feel about music. I'm just...not ready." Julie carefully set the sheet music for Now or Never down on the ground next to her. 

"Okay...well...how do you feel about listening to it?" Flynn asked, starting to set up the old, dusty stereo. 

The room suddenly felt extra-chilly. "No, Flynn, I want out of here." 

Flynn, of course, ignored her and plugged the stereo into the wall. "BOOM! It still works!" 

Julie popped open the disc player. "Oh! It already has a disc in it! And it's the...Sunset Curve demo." 

"Awesome." Flynn shut the disc player and pressed play, but nothing happened. "Huh? Weird." 

"Maybe the speakers are blown," Julie suggested, but Flynn shook her head. 

"No way. These would've been tossed out." Flynn kicked the stereo and music started playing. "Huh. Who knew that'd work?" 

The lyrics that Julie recognized as the ones to Now or Never filled the air. Despite the chill and the fact that Julie didn't want to be there, she couldn't help the smile that came onto her face. Then, there was screaming. Loud screaming. Both she and Flynn covered their ears.

There was a flash of light and three teen boys fell to the floor, groaning in pain. They stood up slowly, grabbing at their chests as if expecting something to be there. Gazing around the room in confusion, they didn't seem to quite realize that there were two other people standing there. The one in the middle looked over at the other two guys. 

"How did we get into the Orpheum?" he asked. 

Recovering from their shock, Flynn and Julie screamed. Finally alerted of their presence, the three young men screamed twice as loud and high. Julie grabbed Flynn's hand and they ran out of the Orpheum, both of them screaming as they left the building. The moment they were back out in the warmth and light of the sun, they stopped, letting out a sigh of relief. 

"What just happened?!" Flynn exclaimed. 

"I don't know!" Julie shouted. "But I think we just summoned some demons!" 

"Demons can look like cute teenage boys?! I doubt it." Flynn's fright was quickly replaced by excitement. "Julie, we just saw some ghosts!" 

"What ghosts appear after a rock song is played?!" Julie demanded. 

"What DEMONS are summoned after a rock song is played?!" Flynn shot back. "Julie, be honest, ghosts are much more likely!" 

"I don't CARE what's more likely, I just want out of here!" Julie began to speed walk towards the sidewalk. 

"C'mon, Julie, we just made the discover of the CENTURY! We saw REAL GHOSTS!" Flynn ran up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "We have to go back in there!" 

"No! If they are demons, I am NOT going to get possessed! Not today, not EVER!" Julie walked around Flynn, but Flynn grabbed her arm with one of her signature smirks. 

"I'm prepared." Flynn opened the tiny backpack she was wearing and pulled out a cross and a bottle of holy water. "Here you go." 

Julie stared at her. "Why do you have a crucifix and bottle of holy water?" 

"Hey, everyone knows that the Orpheum is haunted. And I'm not about to let some ghost or demon take my soul." Flynn placed the bottle in Julie's hand. "If they attack us, I'll stab them with the crucifix and you melt them with holy water." 

Curiosity got the best of Julie and she wrapped her hand tighter around the holy water. "Deal. But if I get possessed, you have to explain that to my dad."


	3. Chapter 3

Hiding behind Flynn and the crucifix for protection, Julie clung tightly to the holy water as they entered the Orpheum again. She was ready to rip the cap off and start flinging holy water at whatever those boys were. Julie still did not quite believe that they could be ghosts. It was ridiculous, and she knew that, especially since the only other option in her mind was demons. But all of her life she had laughed at the idea of ghosts. Demons were a different deal, considering her religious upbringing and the fact that she was still religious. Demons were the children of Satan, and very much real. Ghosts? Julie wasn't sure. 

"C'mon out ghosties. Or are you scared of US?!" Flynn taunted them. 

"Flynn, don't make them mad," Julie begged. "She doesn't mean it, demons! We just wanna see you!" 

"Demons?" the boy with dark brown hair appeared in front of them. "Words hurt, y'know." 

Julie and Flynn both screamed, Flynn holding the crucifix out as the other two boys appeared. One in a pink sweater jumped. 

"Please stop screaming!" he exclaimed. 

Flynn and Julie silenced. 

"Um...hi...we aren't demons," one assured them, holding out his hand. "I'm Luke." 

"We aren't demons,'" Flynn repeated with a snort. "Exactly what a demon would say." 

"Hmm...Luke IS awful close to Lucifer," Julie muttered, then gasped loudly. "You're the devil?!" 

"Would you STOP?! We're aren't demons! His name is Luke and my name is Alex! And the one who didn't LISTEN to me and showed himself to you is Reggie." Alex took a deep breath. "Why are you in the Orpheum and why do you have a crucifix? It's the Orpheum, not a haunted mansion!" 

"Um...dude...you might wanna look." Luke patted Alex and Reggie on the shoulder, and they all began to observe their surroundings. 

The well-kempt Orpheum that they knew was gone, replaced by one that was slowly falling apart. Paint was coming off in large chips, revealing rusting metal and cracking walls. Dust covered every inch of the place, and there was some graffiti from people brave-or stupid-enough to go inside the Orpheum. 

"What happened here?!" Reggie exclaimed. "It looked so nice last night!" 

"Last night?" Flynn laughed. "Last night it looked even WORSE! See, it was super windy, and one of the windows is broken so it started blowing stuff EVERYWHERE. It was a real mess." 

"No, no, last night...last night we were about to perform. And then..." Alex let out a groan of pain as he rubbed his forehead. "And...I don't...remember..." 

"It's okay, pal. I don't know what's going on either," Luke said, squeezing his hand quickly. "Look, I don't know what happened here, or why we're...dead...but, um..."

"We're glad to be back," Reggie finished for him. "So, thanks for that." 

"So, wait. You guys don't know how you died? Wild." Flynn pulled out her phone and started to take notes in it. 

"Yo, what's that?" Luke pointed at the phone. 

"Um...it's a cell phone?" Flynn gave them an odd expression. "I KNOW that it's not an iPhone 10, but it's still good!" 

"An...iPhone?" Reggie looked bewildered. "What's an iPhone?" 

"Oh no, don't tell me you guys are Android users!" Flynn exclaimed. 

"Flynn, really?! They're dead! They're not gonna have a phone!" Julie pointed out. 

"Yeah, but they said they died just last night! Surely they had a phone of some kind! And EVERYONE knows about iPhones." Flynn thought for a moment. "Unless...they DIDN'T die last night!" 

"What? No, we definitely died just last night! We were walking down an alley when...Gah!" Luke squeezed his eyes shut and staggered back, slowly getting to his feet as he blinked a few times. "What...what was I saying?" 

"Um...that you were walking down an alley?" Julie raised an eyebrow. 

"I was?" Luke looked extremely confused. 

"Yeah, I don't know, man. I don't remember walking down an alley at all." Alex kicked at some of the papers on the ground. 

"You guys really don't remember?" Reggie asked. "We were murdered and you don't remember that?" 

"Murdered?" all the others said at the same time. 

"Reg, what are you talking about?" Alex asked. "What do you mean 'murdered'?" 

"Yeah. Besides, who would want to kill us?" Luke chuckled nervously. "You're just messing with us, right?" 

"Why would I joke about us getting murdered? I have no reason to. And this...really isn't a joking matter." Reggie hugged himself, rubbing his forearms. "We were ambushed by two guys. I don't...I can't remember their faces. I know what they were wearing. And I know where we were. But I can't see their faces. At all." 

"Wait, just who are you guys?" Julie finally loosened her grip on the holy water. "And why are you haunting the Orpheum?" 

"First of all, we're Sunset Curve. Tell your friends." Reggie winked at both of them. 

"Second, we aren't haunting this place. You guys are the ones who summoned us here," Alex pointed out. "And what are you doing on your phone?" 

"Googling Sunset Swerve," Flynn explained. 

"Sunset CURVE!" all three of the guys exclaimed at the same time. 

"Whatever." Flynn waved the cross at them. "Whoa, Julie, look at this." 

"Um...there is a Sunset Curve..." Julie told them. "And you guys DID die. But...not last night." 

"Twenty...five years ago?" Flynn stared at them in confusion. "Whoa that's wild. But...it doesn't say anything here about you guys being murdered." 

"What does it say?" Reggie asked. 

"Just that you died when you were seventeen, in 1995," Julie said. "See? 'Three members of rising band Sunset Curve dead at seventeen years old. All other information is not yet available to the public.'" 

"What?" Luke walked behind Flynn, looking over her shoulder. "Is that really all it says?!" 

Flynn and Julie swung around to face him, holding out the crucifix and holy water. He held up his hands, retreating back to Alex and Reggie. "Chill, guys. I thought we clarified that we aren't demons." 

"Doesn't meant that we trust you," Flynn shot back. "You guys could easily be lying to us or you could be vicious ghosts. You WERE murdered, so you could be violent, and secretly deceiving us in order to steal our souls." 

"What? No!" Alex sighed. "Listen, we just...we wanna go home. To our studio. And to have some of our questions answered." 

"Sorry, but...we can't answer anything," Julie apologized, grabbing Flynn's hand. "Come on. My dad will kill us if we get caught here by police." 

Reluctantly, Flynn followed Julie outside where they began to walk back to their bikes, which were parked a short distance away. "Julie! Why are we leaving?" 

"Sorry, Flynn, I know that you're excited, but...you know how I feel about supernatural things. I don't like it in there, and I want to go home. You can definitely go exploring sometime, but...not with me." Julie handed her back the holy water. "Just don't get into trouble." 

"I won't. But...you'll at least like to hear about what I find, right?" Flynn asked hopefully. 

Julie laughed, shaking her head. "Could I stop you?" 

"Nope." Flynn slung an arm over Julie's shoulder. "Let's go to your house and make some cookies and binge some bad movies." 

"Sounds good." 

...

"Welp. That failed." 

Flynn and Julie looked at the burnt lumps that were supposed to be cookies, then looked at each other and started to laugh hysterically. They had tried to experiment by putting three whole bags of caramel M&Ms inside of the cookie mix, which made it so that there were more M&Ms than dough. But, they still left it in the oven for the full twenty minutes it called for and so now they had mounds of melted caramel and chocolate mixed with some very burnt dough. 

"Maybe they'll be good still?" Julie picked up one of the blobs, which fell apart in her hands. "Um...nevermind?" 

Flynn snickered. "At least we tried. You know what? I'm gonna run to my house real quick. I'll get some of that frozen cookie dough Ma bought. 'Kay? 'Kay." 

Julie hugged her. "Be back soon. I don't wanna start the movie without you." 

"Wouldn't miss the chance to criticize every single part of the plot of Twilight while still thirsting over how fine Jacob is." Flynn waved as she opened the front door. "Bye Jules! I'll text you when I'm on my way back!" 

"Bye!" 

With Flynn gone, Julie decided that it was a good time to start working on some homework. As she worked on it, her dad, Ray, came down the stairs. 

"Hey," he greeted her. "I'm about to go watch your brother's game. You and Flynn are good here, right?" 

"Yeah!" Julie stood up, hugging her dad tightly. "You have fun at Carlos's game." 

"Oh, and, mija...are you going to try and audition for the music program at the new school?" he asked. "I know that...they had to kick you out and that...you haven't wanted to join another one, but...I think it'll be good for you. You know, new school, new life...new music?" 

Julie's face dropped and she took a breath. "Yeah. Sure." 

"Great." Ray grinned at her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't beat yourself up about getting kicked out. I know that you're still grieving. Take your time." 

"Thanks." Julie pulled away, forcing a smile. "By the way, your keys are under the mail." 

Ray snapped his fingers, grabbing the keys and rushing out the door. "You're a lifesaver! Oh, and remember, I need to take photos of the studio. Could...you take a look at it to make sure that it's tidied up?" 

Taking a deep breath, Julie nodded slowly. "Sure. I can do that." 

"You're the best. I'll see you tonight!" Ray left, and Julie let out a breath. 

"Well, now or never," she muttered to herself, standing up. 

Julie walked out of the house, pulling on a light coat. She went down the pathway and stood outside the studio doors, her hand hovering over the handle. Shutting her eyes, Julie opened the door and stepped inside the studio. 

Warmth. Julie had to remove her jacket because of how suddenly the temperature rose. Odd. They didn't have the heater running in there. But, Julie didn't think much of it. It was welcome relief to the slowly chilling air as winter approached. Julie gazed around the bright, colorful room and was surprised to see that the plants by the piano weren't dead. Perhaps Ray had been coming into the studio to water them. That seemed like something he'd do. 

"Um...hi?" 

Julie turned around and found herself face-to-face with Luke. She screamed, falling backwards onto the ground, reaching into her pocket for the holy water until she remembered that Flynn had it. So, instead, she stood up, brushed herself off, and put on a brave face. 

"What are you doing in my mom's studio?!" she demanded. 

"What?! This is OUR studio!" Luke exclaimed. "Sure, it looks...different, but this is definitely our studio! Some of our stuff is still up in the attic!" 

"Yeah, like my country notebook!" Reggie poofed up to the attic and waved around a notebook with a picture of a horse taped to the cover. "See?" 

"I wish that didn't survive time," Alex whispered. "Anyways! I guess that after twenty-five years it...makes sense that this place would belong to someone else."

"Yeah. It's my mom's. Now GET OUT!" Julie pointed to the door firmly. 

"Hey, hear us out. Please." Luke stared at her with pleading eyes, and Julie rolled her own. 

"What?" she crossed her arms. 

"I know that this totally seems like we're invading your space, but this did use to be our studio and...we didn't realize that it would belong to someone else." Luke sat down on the couch. "We don't have anyplace else to go." 

"Plus, we want to stick around to figure out who killed us," Reggie explained, his legs swinging as he sat on the edge of the attic. "Make them pay, y'know?" 

"Listen, I'm sorry for what happened to you guys. I'd have no idea what's that like, and I'm sure it's rough. But after twenty-five years, what is there going to be to find?" There was a ding and Julie pulled out her phone. "Flynn is here now, and I'm going to leave. Once I come back here tonight, you BETTER be gone." 

She marched out of the studio, slamming the door behind her. 

"Julie's nice," Reggie said cheerfully. 

Alex sighed. "Did you miss the part where she kicked us out? Or...?" 

Reggie thought for a moment. 

"Yeah. Didn't think so."


	4. Chapter 4

(TW: Violence and mentions of abuse) 

Julie and Flynn had finished the movie, but weren't quite ready to sleep. Hopped up on caffeine and sugar, they decided to find the most obscure crime channel on Youtube. They spent about an hour going through all sorts of channels until they found one from ten years ago that had only one subscriber. The channel was labeled "The Sunset Boulevard Murder" and every single one of the seven videos on the channel had to do with The Sunset Boulevard Murder. 

"What was the name of the band those ghosts were in?" Flynn asked. "Sunset...something, right?" 

"Sunset Curve," Julie replied. "I'm positive it's just a coincidence, but let's check this channel out. I wonder why they have only one subscriber. They seem to have studied this murder very thoroughly." 

"Yeah they did." Julie picked up the remoted, pressing play. "Let's see what they have to offer." 

...

"It had been four days since three members of the rising-to-fame band, Sunset Curve, had gone missing. They were about to play at the Orpheum, their biggest show yet, but they never showed up. According to witnesses, including their bass player, Robert "Bobby" Wilson, they had left to meet up with friends at a hot dog stand only half a mile away from the Orpheum. But, according to those said friends, they never showed up. 

"Police received countless calls, both from Bobby and from two of the boys' families. They assured those calling that they were trying their hardest to find the boys. However, they ignored all tips that were called in and refused to speak to witnesses who said they had more information. 

"One such witness, who will remain anonymous, said that she was approached by two men wearing heavy winter clothing in the middle of the afternoon. Their coats were both a dark grey, and they were zipped up over their nose so that only their eyes were showing. They told said witness that they were friends of Luke and Alex, two of the band's members, then asked witness if she could tell them that they wanted to meet them for dinner to treat them as a celebration for their success. When she told them she would pass on the message, they gave her a large amount of money and then left. 

"Over the next few days, police did nothing to find the missing boys. It was reported that they didn't even open a file for them even though it was already past twenty-four hours and they should've already been considered missing persons. All tips and calls about the case continued to be ignored. 

"Finally, someone called the paramedics instead of the police. They said that they believed that there were three teenagers lying the alleyway that were victims of mugging who needed immediate medical attention. The caller said that they were not moving and that there appeared to be some blood. What this caller did not know was that they had walked upon a crime scene. 

"When paramedics appeared, that's when police finally got involved. The crime scene was in horrible condition as it had rained a few days earlier. Important evidence was likely washed away, and it damaged the bodies further. Their bodies were removed from the scene and detectives arrived shortly after. 

"A complete autopsy was performed on all three of the boys. It was confirmed that they never did make it to the hot dog stand, and it also revealed how they died, though it was quite easy to tell just by looking at them. Each of them had several wounds inflicted by a knife. By several wounds, I mean in the hundreds for each victim. 

"Reginald, the band's bass player, was found with seventy-four stab wounds, most of which were defense injuries on his hands and arms. The autopsy report states that he was alive for several minutes after the attack, and that he died from suffocation due to the blood pooling in his lungs. Alex, the band's percussionist, was found with one-hundred and twenty two stab wounds, of which most were unnecessary because he died quickly from one of the wounds which pierced his heart. Finally, Luke, the band's lead singer, was found with one-hundred and thirty stab wounds, none of which were the cause of his death. The autopsy reports that he was possibly alive for several hours after the attack and died from bleeding out, and evidence at the crime scene shows that he tried to get up and walk to find help but couldn't due to the extent of his injuries.

"It's thought that Reginald was not the main target, hence why the attackers grew sloppy. Also, the two men who approached the anonymous witness asked for only Luke and Alex. Not for Reginald. He did narrowly avoid death, as the witness and Bobby both say that he returned shortly after leaving to ask if they were going the right way. Had he stayed behind a few moments longer, Reginald would've avoid death by mere moments. 

"After the autopsy report was released, the police went silent about their further investigations. Only six months into the case, they declared the case cold and moved on. There are several rumors that the reason why this case was ended so abruptly was due to the homosexuality within the band. Alex's parents confirmed their son's sexuality and the other two's parents said that they were not sure, but friends agreed that all of them had dated other young men at one point or another. It was common knowledge that the chief of police at that time had very strong feelings of homophobia and so there is speculation that he was the one who shut down the investigation.

"In the rest of this video, I will be giving the background of each member of the band, including Bobby. I will start with the lead singer of the band, Luke Patterson. 

"Only three months from his eighteenth birthday, he was the oldest of the band, though it was not by much. According to friends and relatives, Luke had a very happy childhood, though he was quite a bit of a troublemaker. Although popular, Luke tended to stick around the quiet kids in school, leading to his lifelong friendship with Reginald and Alex starting in the first grade. 

"In sixth grade, Luke first expressed attraction to other boys. However, he always told others: 'Though if I were to get married, I would get married to a girl.' Of course, as he got older, he started to accept his attraction to all genders-known as pansexuality today-and stopped trying to hide who he was. He grew confident and would even publicly date other boys and those of other gender identities, something that was very risky for him to be doing not only in the 1990s but also because of where he lived. 

"At the announcement of his death, his parents were grief-stricken. They are still pushing the police to find out who killed him and his friends so that they can receive justice for their son. 

"Alex was the next oldest of the group, being only a week younger than Luke. Unlike Luke, however, he did not have a happy childhood. His parents were unbelievably strict, following Tiger Parenting methods and demanding only the best friend him in whatever Alex did. According to a therapist that Alex visited secretly, he had never gotten praise from his parents, only disapproval and he was often told that he didn't try even after he had done everything in his power to be the best. He had to beg to be allowed to go to a public school, finally able to convince them to let him go when he pointed out that it was far cheaper than the religious academy they were going to send him to. 

"His parents were members of the Catholic church, and that only added onto their strict nature. They would never let Alex watch, listen to, read, or involve himself in anything that didn't praise God or that would apparently teach him 'witchcraft' and 'the devil's work.' And from the time he could first talk, they firmly planted into his head that it was 'wrong, wicked, and an abomination to be a homosexual.' 

"However, in his freshman year of high school, Alex dated his first and only girlfriend. Once he broke up with her, he turned to Luke for comfort, and that's when they began dating. Alex told Luke that he still had doubts about his sexuality, and so he asked if he could kiss him to decide for sure. They kissed while hidden behind the school, thinking that they were safe from the eyes of onlookers. 

"But when Alex got home, he was immediately met with a chill. Apparently, a friend of his mother's who worked at his school had seen Alex and Luke and immediately told his parents. When asked about the situation, Alex tried to lie, but due to his conditioning through his childhood, lying was not a part of his nature, and he admitted to his parents that he was gay. 

"Alex later showed up at Luke's house, asking if he could stay for awhile. Luke's mother, Emily, said that she didn't let him in but only because she immediately rushed him to a hospital. Alex was burned from the tips of his fingers to his elbow, and, while he didn't tell her directly, she heard him tell Luke that after he came out to his parents, his dad had grabbed him by the wrist and had put his arm into a pot of boiling water, telling him that was how the flames of hell were going to feel. 

"He never returned to his family, instead living in the band's studio or sleeping over at Luke's house until Luke ran away from his family. Finally free from the grip of his parents, Alex was able to flourish as the band's percussionist and discovered his immense love for rock, something that his parents had deemed as demonic. 

"At the announcement of his death, Alex's parents acting strangely. Their expressions did not change whatsoever, and his father allegedly said 'good riddance' under his breath as his mother told the policeman 'he was already dead to us.' They shut the door and refused to speak further about the situation. 

"Reginald-better known as "Reggie"-had a fairly normal and happy childhood, until it was discovered that he was not actually his father's son. An affair that his mother had been having for years was discovered, and that was the end of Reggie's happy home life. He spent a majority of his nights at friend's houses, especially as his parents grew ever-more negligent as their own problems became the center of their lives. 

"Shortly after Alex and Luke broke up, Reggie and Luke started a relationship. But, just like Alex and Luke's relationship, it was short-lived and ended within about a month. The three remained close friends, finding it not worth it to end their friendship simply because their interest in each other romantically had ended. Just like Luke, Reggie eventually ran away from home. 

At the announcement of his death, Reginald's parents reacted numbly, but it is thought that they went into shock. They divorced shortly after and will say nothing of the matter.

"Bobby was the youngest of the group, and seemed to have the most liberating childhood of the group. There's not much information other than the fact that his whereabouts are unknown today. He met Luke when Luke dated his older brother, and the two became very close, remaining friends even after Luke's relationship with Bobby's older brother ended. Bobby met Alex and Reggie through Luke and the four became inseparable, rarely ever found without at least one other member of the band. 

"When they were fifteen, Luke, Alex, and Reggie decided that they wanted to start a band. They had all been in music classes and choirs ever since elementary, and they were starting to discover their talent for songwriting, especially Luke. Bobby offered to let them use the studio behind his house to practice. After a few months, Bobby asked if he could join them, and Sunset Curve was born, only to be ended a year and a half later. 

"That's it for today's video. Please tune in tomorrow for the next video." 

...

Once the video ended, Julie and Flynn sat in silence. They glanced at each other and then looked at the ground. After a moment, Julie stood up with a sigh. 

"Where are you going?" Flynn asked. 

"I...have something to do." Julie jabbed her finger back. "Bathroom." 

"Ah, I see." Flynn nodded and turned back to the television. "I'll just be watching stupid conspiracy theories until you get back." 

Once Julie could hear the sound of a video blasting in the living room, she snuck out the door and walked to the studio. Slowly, she opened the door and found Alex, Luke, and Reggie piling things up in the center of the room from the attic that must've been their things. 

"Oh. Good. You're still here," Julie said, relieved. 

"Wait...you're okay with us still being here? Even though you told us to get out before you came back out here?" Reggie asked. 

"Yeah, and that's...because I don't want you to leave," she told them quietly. 

"Really?" Luke instantly lit up. "We can stay?" 

Julie nodded. "I'm sorry that I got mad at you earlier. I am so, so sorry for what happened to you. I was being rude and selfish and-" 

"Hey, it's okay. It wasn't your fault," Alex assured her. "And, let's be honest, you probably were still thinking you were hallucinating us." 

Julie let out a little laugh, but then grew serious. "I also have one more thing to tell you." 

"What?" they all asked at the same time. 

"I want to help find out who killed you."


	5. Chapter 5

TW: Religious homophobia and extreme religion 

It was at that moment that Flynn flung the doors of the studio. 

"Hey, Julie, what're you doing back-" Flynn abruptly cut off as she saw the three guys with Julie. "Um...what're they doing here?" 

"Apparently, this was their studio," Julie explained, waving her arm around the studio. "So they're staying here for awhile." 

"How long is awhile?" Flynn suddenly grew excited. "Oh my gosh! We could help solve their case!" 

"You'd both do that?" Luke asked. "For us? You don't even know us." 

"Well, we do know one thing: what happened to you wasn't fair. None of you deserved to die in the way you did. And it's terrible that nothing has been done to give you and your families justice," Julie said. "All the information seems to be there. We just need to piece it together and then your families and those that loved you can live in peace knowing that you have been given justice." 

"Also, finding a murderer? AWESOME!" Flynn exclaimed, then cleared her throat. "We are more than happy to help you guys." 

"Well, thank you, but...I don't know if you guys understand what you're getting into. Adults with decades of detective experience haven't been able to solve this case," Alex reminded them. "And we can't even remember the faces of the people who killed us." 

"Well those 'adults with decades of detective experience' ALSO happen to be HUGE homophobes and don't give a crap about what happened to you." Flynn rolled her eyes. "People disgust me sometimes." 

"Wait...homophobes?" Luke's eyebrows creased together. "I know what that means but...I thought that police and detectives were supposed to protect and serve no matter what." 

"Sorry to let you know, dude, but this is 2020. We've...pretty much figured out that if policemen want to abuse their power, than they will," Flynn informed him. "If they're homophobic and you're gay, then BAM! Your case is suddenly cold." 

"You're supposed to be right, Luke, but your case is proof of the corruption in the system." Julie stifled a yawn. 

"Oh, um...you guys can go to sleep. Obviously there's...nothing you can do to help us when you're tired," Alex told them. "And...we're good here. You don't need to worry about us." 

"Okay, well...there's a shower in the back and the couch turns into a bed. If...you guys need any of that stuff still," Julie offered. 

"Dibs on the shower!" Reggie exclaimed, everyone turning to stared at him. "I just really like showers. And the occasional bath." 

"This..." Flynn gestured over at the guys. "This is just..." 

"Weird," Julie finished for her. "C'mon, Flynn." 

...

Alex wouldn't stop pacing. He could tell it was driving Luke and Reggie insane, who were trying to see if ghosts could sleep. Even if it wasn't a necessity, sleep was sometimes better than being bored. So, he decided to go take a walk, hoping the cold nighttime air would help clear his head. 

It was too much. Learning that they were murdered. Learning that their case had never been solved. Learning that now they were ghosts and ghosts that could teleport and move certain things and who felt like they were alive and yet...empty. So very, very cold and empty. Alex didn't want to think of how his parents reacted to the news of his death, but his overthinking mind was already bringing up every single possible situation. 

Perhaps they were relieved that he was dead. Their imperfect, wicked son finally dead and out of their lives forever. Now they didn't have to explain why he wasn't home to their friends who most certainly couldn't know that they kicked their gay son out of the house. Maybe they had been sad, realizing their mistakes and wishing that they had more time to make things right. Attempt to mend a horribly broken family. And maybe...

Maybe they were happy to hear he was dead. 

Alex shut his eyes and started to walk faster. After he was kicked out of his parent's house, Alex began to suffer from religiously-triggered PTSD. No one ever took it seriously, though, after he said that, yes, he did believe in God. They thought there was no way for him to be religious and yet be so terrified of it. It wasn't religion he was scared of. It was the symbols and the verses and the people involved with it that told him to hate himself, to fear God who was supposed to be loving and yet apparently hated Alex, and who had even had him exorcised when they heard that he was "an accursed, wicked, abominable homosexual." 

When Flynn and Julie had showed up with the crucifix and the holy water, Alex was lucky to had not been thrown into a PTSD episode right then and there. Sometimes it triggered him, sometimes it didn't. He guessed that the fact the crucifix was painted in a tie-dye pattern and covered in hot-glued flowers and seashells is what made it so nonthreatening to him. And Alex didn't even really notice the holy water until it was pointed out, and, by that time, he had already calmed himself from the sight of a religious symbol. 

Other times, he wasn't so lucky. 

A wind blew, and, out of habit, Alex drew his arms closer around himself to block out the cold. Temperature didn't affect him now, but Alex wished that it did. He wanted something, anything, to tell him that this was all a dream. That he was really alive and that he was going to walk back into the studio to find Reggie, Luke, and Bobby all getting ready for the next gig. 

It was too much. 

Shouting caught his attention. The neighborhood he was walking in was fairly quiet, which made sense since all the houses had a good half-mile between them. Alex really hadn't paid attention to where he'd teleported; he just wanted a place that was quiet and relaxing. Well, so much for the quiet and relaxing. 

The yelling came from the house he was walking by. Suddenly, the front door was flung open and a young man-hardly thirteen or fourteen-was pushed out of the house and he stumbled down the front steps, hardly able to keep himself from falling. 

It was a scene all-too familiar to Alex. The parents yelling about how disgusting and sinful their son was. The hastily-packed backpack that was spilling things across the ground. The tear-filled eyes and the shaking hands that desperately tried to pick up the fallen items as the parents continued to scream at them to leave. To get out of their sight. That they no longer had a son and that he should never show his face again. The door slammed shut, and the area grew terrifyingly silent. 

The young man limped out of the front gate of his home, ankle twisted from his stumble. Alex felt like he was staring into a mirror that let him gaze into his past. He felt as though he should follow this young man, and that he did. Past other houses. Down dirt roads. Through a field where he heard coyotes howling and wondered how this boy kept a stone face. Then, a train station came into sight. 

Sitting on a bench, tears began to drip down the teenager's face. He squeezed his eyes shut as he pulled out something that Alex guessed was a phone as he dialed a number and put the device to his ear. It rung once, twice, several times and then went silent. He dialed again, and, again, got no answer. One more time. There was a loud beep. 

"Auntie, I know that you're probably asleep but when you hear this please come pick me up," he begged. "I'm at the train station. They...they kicked me out. Please...please answer." 

He collapsed into sobs, knees to his chest as he let the phone drop to the ground. Carefully, Alex approached him, sitting beside him on the bench. It was then that Alex realized that the young man was praying. 

"Please God...I don't want to be like this. Please...let me be normal. Let me be the son that my parents loved. I don't care what I have to give up. Just...just let me be normal," he wept. "Please..." 

Alex took a deep breath, wishing he could hug this boy. "Hey...I know that you can't see me. And...you probably can't hear me either. But...just know that you don't have to be validated by your parents. What matters is that there are people out there who love you no matter what. And...God loves you too. He says that he does, anyway, and I've got a pretty good feeling that he doesn't have a reason to lie to us. So...just ignore your parents. If they don't love you, that's their problem. I say they're missing out. You seem pretty great, and so what if you're gay? That doesn't define you as a person. You're still good. You can still do amazing things. Okay? Don't give up on yourself. It's not worth it." 

The young man's head shot up and he looked around, wiping tears from his face. He stood up and gazed around the corner of the train station booth and then wandered back to the bench. 

"Hello?" he whispered. 

"Um...hi?" Alex stood in front of him, waving his hand. "You can hear me?" 

"I...I think so. Your voice...it's very quiet. Who are you?" he asked. 

"Uh, well...I'm Alex," Alex introduced himself. "And...I was just like you. What's your name?" 

"Becker. And...you were like me? You were..." Becker trailed off. 

"Gay? Yeah, kind of. I mean, I kissed a few boys in trees and dated a few and MAY or may not have lost my virginity to one but, hey, who's to say I was gay?" Alex shrugged. 

Becker laughed, wiping his eyes again. "I think you were. Just a little." 

"I was just kidding about the virginity thing, by the way. I didn't." Becker let out a snort. "But...seriously. Be careful. I have to go now. I have friends who are waiting for me. You're going to be okay. But a few tips before I leave; if a guy comes up to you and he has a mustache and he starts to flirt with you and says that he wishes to write a thousand songs about you, you run. You get out of there. They will break your heart and then make it sound like your fault." 

Becker stared in the general direction of Alex's voice. "Are you serious?" 

"Happened to me on four separate occasions, so, yeah, I'd say I know what I'm talking about." Alex grew somber again. "Don't give up on yourself. I mean it. You're gonna be alright. Goodbye, Becker. I hope your Aunt hears your message soon." 

Alex turned and began to walk away, leaving Becker in silence. But, he couldn't help but turn and take one last look to make sure he was okay. Becker was crying again, but, this time, he had a smile. 

"Thank you, God. I needed to know that you didn't hate me. Thank you for sending me one of your angels."


	6. Chapter 6

(TW: PTSD dreams, Religious trauma, accidental mishandling of a panic attack) 

Alex finally felt completely relaxed when he teleported back to the band’s studio. There, he found that Reggie and Luke discovered that ghosts can, in fact, sleep. They were wrapped tightly around each other, a familiar sight to Alex. Alex was never one who enjoyed touch. Luke and Reggie, though? All it took was two and a half weeks of dating and then they could never sleep alone again. 

It was almost comforting, seeing the two sleeping like that. It was normal, something that happened all the time when they were alive. They slept facing each other, Reggie’s head tucked underneath Luke’s chin. Alex could never sleep with someone like that. They were always either too hot or too cold, they shifted around in their sleep, and Alex had tried sleeping with Luke like this when they had dated, but something about it just made him feel so uncomfortable. Like he was ensnared and would never be able to escape. Perhaps it was his fear that he would have a PTSD episode in his sleep and hurt the other person. 

Alex never wanted that to happen. Ever. 

He tried to be as quiet as possible, but, Reggie-being a light sleeper-roused. Blinking a few times, Reggie was able to free one of his arms to rub the sleep from his eyes. 

“Hey, Alex. Did you just get back?” he muttered tiredly. 

“Yeah, I did. The walk really helped,” Alex whispered. “Um...if we ever need to go inside Julie’s house, could you guys…” 

“We’ll look out for triggers,” Reggie assured him. “Are you sure you don’t want to sleep here with Luke and I? There’s tons of room.” 

He said this because Alex had found a cabinet full of blankets and pillows and had started to make a sort of nest with them on the ground. “I’m good. You know why I can’t sleep up there with you guys. It’s...safer for me to be down here.” 

“Alright. But...only if you’re sure, okay?” Reggie snuggled his face into Luke’s shoulder, quickly slipping back into sleep. 

Shaking his head, Alex went back to work on his bed. He had to sleep surrounded by pillows and blankets and he had to face a wall. Alex wouldn’t sleep if he was facing a door because his overthinking mind would just be waiting for someone to burst in and start yelling at him, attack him, do SOMETHING to harm him. Eventually, Alex got himself situated and, like Luke and Reggie, fell asleep. 

It wasn’t peaceful, though. Alex sort of had a hope that, since they were dead, he would stop getting dreams. But, there was no such luck.

He found himself standing in the middle of a forest. The forest that he’d gotten lost in when he was eleven, to be exact. Clearly, he’d been found quite quickly, but, for an eleven-year-old, being stuck in a dark, dense forest was the worst thing that could happen to you. Alex had hated that forest ever since, with the trees that towers so high and grew leaves so large that they blotted out almost all of the sunlight and left the rest of the forest misty and damp and cold. 

Lightning crackled loudly, and the forest grew ever-darker with gathering clouds. A bright flash of lighting temporarily blinded him. Once his eyes adjusted, Alex found that he was surrounded by figures in dark cloaks. Their voices were low and hardly audible, and they were chanting a single phrase over and over. Listening more closely, Alex recognized the verses that had been used during his exorcism. Ephesians 6:12. Revelations 20:2-3. First Timothy 2:4. 

Before he could stop himself, Alex began to recite the verses himself. Verses that his parents forced him to write and recite and memorize 100 times over every time he got in trouble. Acts 3:19. First John 1:9. Revelation 2:5. Romans 1:18. 

“Repent and be forgiven,” Alex whispered after each verse. “Lest the Lord destroy your soul.” 

Then, he was awake.

He didn’t sit straight up, but laid there, shaking. Luke was speaking quietly to him while gently tugging on Alex’s jacket. Exactly how Alex had asked him to wake him from his nightmares so long ago. 

“Hey man, you good?” Luke asked. 

“Yeah.” Alex sat up slowly. “Luke, you sleep like a rock. How did I wake you up?” 

“You didn’t. You didn’t even wake Reggie.” Luke flicked his head over to the couch where Reggie was sound asleep. “I just...got a feeling.” 

“Hm.” Alex could feel his hands still shaking. “Luke?” 

“Got it.” Luke reached down to the chain he always had on his belt, taking off the fuzzy ball keychain and handing it to Alex. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

Alex shut his eyes as he shook his head, squeezing the ball and feeling the links of the keychain with his thumb. “I’d rather not.” 

“That’s alright. Hey, did I ever tell you about when I ran into a huge sealion at the docks? Well it was nighttime and-“ 

…

Alex finally fell asleep after Luke’s third story, which was about him sneaking a cat into school. That story always did the trick, as it was a fond memory that all three of them shared. Besides, with the fuzzy ball in his hand, Alex could easily remember the silky fur of the tiny kitten, and how Luke had snuck it in specifically for him. Alex had always wanted a cat but his parents would never allow it as “cats are the devil’s eyes and ears.” Also, Alex had been having a rough, horrible week and Luke’s cat had kittens a month and a half earlier. 

Alex had nearly cried when he saw the cat, and he hadn’t let it go all day, taking very good care of it for the few hours he had it. 

Luke stood up with a sigh. He loved Alex and Reggie so much. They were his friends, his family, and-even if it was only platonic now-he loved them more than anyone else beside his own parents. If he could, Luke would take all of their pain away. He regretted all the times he complained about his parents-who were just trying to ensure that he was a good person-when Alex’s parents had threatened his life after he told them he was gay and when Reggie’s father had thrown a lamp at him out of rage in the middle of a fight with his mother. 

Luke didn’t quite feel like he could sleep yet. He didn’t need it, of course, but it had been nice. However, he didn’t want to accidentally sleep through a panic attack that he could’ve helped with or accidentally miss the “Alex or Reggie need my help now” feeling he got whenever they had nightmares or were feeling upset. So, Luke quietly left the studio to take a look around. He saw light coming from one of the rooms in the house and decided to investigate. He teleported inside of the room where Flynn and Julie were sitting on a bed. They both screamed loudly, nearly dropping the giant tubs of ice cream they were holding. 

“What are you doing?!” Julie hissed. “You can’t teleport in here whenever you want! At least knock!” 

“Sorry, sorry,” Luke apologized. “What’re you guys still doing up? I thought you were going to sleep.” 

“We WERE but then we found this!” Flynn exclaimed, holding up her ice cream which read ‘triple-chocolate expresso.’ “With this, we will never need to sleep again.” 

“And...we wanted to learn more about your case,” Julie explained. “We’re on the episode that lists the suspects.” 

“Fascinating. Can I stick around for that? It might help my memory,” Luke pointed out as Julie opened her mouth in protest. 

“Fine,” Julie sighed. “But you CAN’T keep teleporting in here. Do it again, and I’ll find some way to kill you.” 

“Fair enough.” Luke sat on the ground in front of the bed cross-legged. 

“First suspect,” the narrator began, “is Robert “Bobby” Wilson.” 

…

“Bobby was one of the last people to see the band alive that night. He also stayed behind while the other three left for food, which may seek coincidental until you learn that his vegetarian excuse was a lie. He is not, in fact, vegetarian (“I could’ve told you that.” “Shut up Luke.”). However, he was quickly ruled out as a suspect due to the fact that he explained that he stayed back to flirt with one of the employees that worked at the Orpheum and the fact that he passed the polygraph with no indications of lying whatsoever. 

“Our next suspect is a serial killer that was loose at the time by the name of Andrew Urdiales who killed his victims via stabbing. However, evidence at the crime scene indicated that there was more than one murderer and Urdiales reportedly said-when confronted with the deaths of the teenage boys-‘I work alone, and I’m not gay. I only kill women, not boys.’ (“Well that’s not creepy and wrong in so many ways.” “Seriously Luke, hush.”) 

“Our third suspects are the parents of Alex, the drummer of the band. (“Oh boy I sadly wouldn’t be surprised.”) It’s not believed that they would’ve been the ones to carry out the murder-since witnesses state that it was two men in heavy coats-but it is rumored that they hired hitmen to be rid of their son-who, according to them, made them look like bad parents, bad people, and bad citizens-and of Luke, who was dating Alex when he came out to his parents. However, this is mostly just speculation due to their cold reaction to the death of their son, but I felt it important to include. (“Julie, also jot down that they threatened his life when he came out to them.” “They what?!” “Yeah and that they’re horrible people all around who are also rich.”) 

“Our next suspects are Christian Hemings (“oh THAT jerk.”) and Michael Richard. Christian Hemings was an ex-partner of Luke Patterson (“Only relationship I regret.” “Luke PLEASE stop talking.”) who allegedly stalked him for seven months after their breakup. Eventually, Hemings appeared to move on and started dating Richards, another ex-partner of Luke Patterson. (“What...Luke how many exes do you have?!” “...Fifteen? Maybe? Michael was sweet, though, just a bit weird.”) They said that they did, in fact, plan a surprise for Luke and Alex. (“They didn’t know Alex what-“) However, they never showed up. Personally, they seem the most suspicious to me, but it was while they were being investigated that the case went cold and the only other information I have is two polygraph tests that each of them took. Both passed. 

“Our finally suspect is Rose Alexandria Molina-maiden name Garcia-who was an employee at the Orpheum.”

…

Julie paused the video there, he face somewhat pale as she glanced at Flynn, who also had a look of disbelief. Luke rolled his eyes as he stood up. 

“Rose? Really? Only knew the girl for a few moments, but she could hardly hurt a fly! I watched her during our performance! She tried to catch it in a jar!” he exclaimed. “Hey, Jules, you good?” 

“Luke, Rose is her mom,” Flynn said quietly. “Julie, hey, are you okay?” 

“I’m...yeah...maybe?” Julie swallowed. “I never knew she was mixed up in a murder.” 

“Happens to the best of us.” Luke shrugged. “Hey, EVERYONE loves me and I was the victim!” 

“Hmmm...that kinda tells me that not everyone loved you,” Flynn said as she squeezed Julie’s hand. “Julie...you know your mom. This is definitely a ‘wrong place wrong people wrong time’ situation. She’s the final suspect, and so we don’t have to keep watching.” 

Julie nodded. “Good plan. I just...really hate hearing that anyone could think my mom is a bad person.” 

“I know, right?!” Luke exclaimed. “Idiots. Complete fools. I just had to take one look at her to know she was a good person. And, ninety percent of the time, I’m right about people.” 

Julie let out a small laugh. “And what about the other ten percent?” 

“Then I end up dating creeps like Christian.” Luke’s smile suddenly disappeared as he started to get the “Alex or Reggie need my help now” feeling in his stomach. “I gotta go. Both of you, get some rest. I’m serious.” 

“Since when did you get all protective of us?” Flynn asked as Luke teleported away. 

Luke appeared in the studio and nearly ran into Reggie, who was frantic. “Luke! There you are!” 

“What is it? What’s wrong? I’m sorry I left I just couldn’t sleep.” Luke huffed Reggie. 

“It’s Alex,” Reggie whispered. “He started having another nightmare and I couldn’t find you and so I tried to wake him up by gently shaking him but he didn’t like that and he slapped me. Then he woke up and saw that he hurt me and so he panicked more and teleported away and now I don’t know where he is.” 

“Oh, Reggie, I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you that Alex doesn’t like to be woken up from being touched. He thinks he’s being attacked.” Luke studied Reggie’s face. “You’re okay, right?” 

“Physically, yes. But mentally? Not until Alex gets back.” Reggie hugged Luke tighter. “I’m so sorry.” 

“Stop apologizing. You didn’t mean anything malicious. You just didn’t know what to do, and it was wrong for me to leave you guys alone.” Luke thought for a moment. “Knowing Alex, he probably went on another walk. We’re gonna give him an hour and then we have to go looking for him, okay?” 

Reggie nodded. “Okay.”


	7. Chapter 7

Alex wandered through the streets of Hollywood, hoping that the noise of late-night traffic would drown out his anxiety. It was helping somewhat, but his mind kept replaying what he remembered over and over. He was having a nightmare again, and part of the dream was his father towering over him, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him and he yelled at him. In an act of desperation, Alex had slapped him to try and escape. Then, he'd awakened, and Reggie was on the ground, hand over a bright red spot on his face. 

Had he hurt Reggie? Alex wasn't sure. He couldn't remember that part, and he hadn't stuck around long enough to ask if Reggie was alright. He needed to leave, escape from the nightmare that had followed him into his waking hours. His biggest fear was hurting those he cared about, and that fear had just become a reality. 

As Alex walked down the street, he heard someone shouting for people to look out. They were laughing a lot, too. Alex just ignored the noise, figuring it was someone just riding their bike or something through the crowds. Suddenly, someone slammed into him from behind and knocked him to the ground. He could hear them groaning in pain next to him, his head spinning. 

He and the other person both got to their feet, a teenager about his age standing next to him. "Aw man. Aw, you dinged my board." 

"I dinged your board?! Dude you ran me over! You're lucky I didn't..." Alex trailed off. "You...you ran me over. You-you're a ghost?" 

The other boy shrugged. "Hm, yeah. Ever since I learned the hard way that..." 

He removed his helmet, and long, beautiful hair flowed around his face in perfect helmet-hair. Sort of messy, but clean and parted right down the middle. A small hair flip, and Alex's heart fluttered. 

"Skating in traffic was bad," he finished, causing Alex set to his jaw, shuffling shyly.   
"Hey, um, sorry I smashed into you. I thought you were a lifer and I could pass right through you." 

"Um...a lifer?" Alex asked. 

"Yeah, that's, uh, that's what we call people who are...living." He grinned. "You're new to this whole ghost thing, aren't you?" 

Alex let out a little chuckle. "Yeah, is it that obvious?" 

"Totally," the other boy laughed, holding out his hand. "Hey, I'm Willie." 

"O-oh, Alex," Alex replied, shaking his head. 

"So, um, what brings you to Hollywood, man?" Willie asked, swinging his arm about the street. "You sightseeing? Getting a picture with that...Marilyn girl?" 

"Oh yeah actually I was having a minor afterlife crisis so you know...just clearing my head. Until you...tried to crack it open," Alex added. 

Willie laughed, leaning back on his feet slightly, his eyes crinkling. "I did pancake you, huh?" 

Alex smiled nervously, shrugging slightly, and Willie's smile disappeared as he cleared his throat. 

"I'm sorry, um, so minor afterlife crisis?" He waved his hand for Alex to elaborate. 

"Yeah, I just keep freaking out about everything, you know? Like, shouldn't we be in heaven, or something?" Alex asked, voice somewhat quiet. 

"Who's we?" Willie raised an eyebrow. 

"Oh, uh, me and my bandmates," Alex explained, nodding. "We all died." 

"Right. That's tragic man," Willie said sympathetically. "You guys in some kind of accident?" 

"Yeah." Alex shrugged, his voice going a bit higher. "Yeah, you could say that." 

"Hey, if you don't wanna talk about it, that's fine," Willie assured him. 

"No, no, it's okay. You told me how you died." Alex took a deep breath. "We were brutally murdered in an alleyway." 

"Whoa! No way!" Willie exclaimed. "Way more epic than how I died. I was just being dumb." 

"Wow. That's...strangely comforting. Thank you." Alex stared at Willie for a moment, licking his lips before realizing that looked weird and thought of something to say. "Hey, um...do you mind if I ask you a couple more questions?" 

Alex could swear that Willie's eyes flicked up and down, studying him. "It's kind of your thing, isn't it?" 

He tried to say something, but Alex's voice refused to work. Willie smirked, setting his skateboard on the ground.

"Alright," he said. "You just gotta keep up." 

He skated away, Alex frozen behind him. His stomach and heart were feeling all sorts of ways. Then, he realized that his chance for answers was leaving. 

Hey! Wait!" he called after Willie, chasing him. 

...

"And so then our case was never solved, because they couldn't care less about a group of gay kids," Alex finished. "Well, Reg and Luke aren't gay. They've had girlfriend. But all the police needed to know was that they tried out kissing another guy and then the case went cold." 

"That's rough, man. Do you think that could be your unfinished business?" Willie asked. 

"Mm hmm." Alex nodded his head. "Absolutely. I'd totally agree if I had any idea what you were talking about." 

"Right!" Willie exclaimed, scooting closer to Alex. "Unfinished business. It's why some of us come back as ghosts. We have something left that we needed to do before we died, and we can't cross over until we do it. So, maybe you need to solve your own case." 

"Oh, that does make sense," Alex agreed. "Do you know what your unfinished business is?" 

"No. It sometimes takes awhile for ghosts to figure out what their unfinished business is. Some never figure it out. But dude!" Willie gently smacked Alex's arm. "I'm not too worried about it, because being a ghost allows me to do my favorite thing: skate anywhere at anytime, without getting caught. Like, man, when I'm not skating around here, I'm skating in Justin Bieber's empty pool." 

"Wow," Alex said with awe in his voice. "Who's that?" 

"Dude, you have SO much to catch up on!" Willie laughed. 

"I know," Alex sighed. "Hey, um...the other night, I was...able to speak to a lifer. How...how is that possible? I mean, obviously the lifers around here can't hear me. At least not right now." 

"Huh. That's kind of odd. But I think I have an answer. Ghosts receive special gifts when they die. Gifts that allow them to do what they wish they or others could do for themselves. For me, I can get people out of trouble with the police that don't deserve it. Skaters, homeless people, you name it. They suddenly find some way to get out of an unnecessary ticket or arrest. Sometimes, the gifts have to do with helping the ghost with their unfinished business," Willie explained. "I've even heard of ghosts being able to make themselves visible to lifers for a few moments. Lifers that were important to them when they were alive. In some cases, they could even give them a hug or something. Sometimes, unfinished business is simply just getting to say goodbye." 

"That's...kind of awesome," Alex admitted. "Do you think that could be something I need to get done before I cross over?" 

"Yeah. Maybe. If there were people in your life that didn't get closure after you died. Or who maybe don't even know that you're dead and wonder why you're suddenly missing from their lives." Willie looked over at the horizon and stood up quickly. "I've gotta go. Catch you later, 'Lex." 

Alex watched Willie skate away, feeling much lighter and happier than before. He still knew that he had to go back and find out if Reggie was hurt, and he knew that the nightmares were probably going to come back. But...somehow...he knew he was going to be alright. 

He teleported back to the studio, where Luke and Reggie were frantic. Before Alex could say anything, he was tackled by them in a huge hug. 

"We couldn't find you, Alex. We looked all over and we couldn't find you," Reggie told him, his voice breaking. "I'm so sorry, Alex, I never should've woken you up like that. I should've just gotten Luke to help you I'm so sorry." 

"Hey, hey, Reg, calm down. I should be the one apologizing," Alex said gently, pulling away to look at Reggie's face. "Did I hurt you?" 

"You did hit me," Reggie said quietly, Alex's heart dropping. "But it only hurt for a second. I'm okay. You barely tapped me. It just surprised me and that's why I fell over."

"Alex, you made us so worried." Luke took his hand. "Are you okay?" 

"I'm okay now," Alex assured him. "I met another ghost, and he answered a TON of my questions." 

"That's awesome! Another ghost?" Reggie asked, eyes lighting up. 

"Yeah, his name is Willie, and he told me that ghosts have something called 'unfinished business.' We have to do something that we weren't able to do when we were alive so that we can cross over," Alex explained. 

"'Cross over'?" Luke repeated. "Like...go to heaven?" 

Alex shrugged. "I mean...that's what I'd guess." 

"So, do you know what our unfinished business is?" Reggie asked. 

"Honestly, I'm not completely sure," Alex admitted. "But, if I had to bet, I'd say that our job is to figure out who killed us." 

"Sounds like a plan." Luke flopped down on the couch. "Then, what do we do if it's not?"

"Luke, there's a LOT of things we needed and wanted to do when we were alive," Alex reminded him. "Maybe we could just...make a list and check it off one thing at a time until something ends up being our unfinished business." 

"Oooo, like going to Rome?" Reggie smiled brightly. "I've always wanted to go there!" 

"'Course, Reg," Luke laughed. "We can go to Rome." 

"Guys, um...just in case solving our murder is our unfinished business, there is one thing I want to do," Alex said softly. 

Luke and Reggie both looked at him. "What is it, Alex?" 

Alex took a deep breath, shoving his hands into his coat pockets. "I want to find my grandparents."


	8. Chapter 8

The cottage was still there. Despite their immense wealth, Alex's grandparents still lived in the tiny cottage they'd bought for $200 after world war two. They'd stayed there because of the beauty of the mountain that surrounded it, and because they knew that they could turn the run-down century-old house into something beautiful. Over time, they'd planted hundreds of flowers that nearly overtook the grass, built stone pathways that led to a glass greenhouse, a tower that allowed them to overlook the valley below the mountain, and to a farmyard about a hundred feet from the cottage that held a horse, a pig, and a few chickens. 

Even after twenty-five years, not a lot had changed. 

Alex didn't know why he stood there, frozen and terrified to walk any closer. Perhaps he was terrified that he'd learn that his grandparents were dead, even though Julie-through some research-confirmed that they were alive. Perhaps he was scared that his parents had told them that he was gay and that they had disowned him as well. But...that wasn't something his grandparents would do. 

Right? 

This place had been where a majority of Alex's happy childhood memories were created. So why did he stop? Finally, he pushed himself to walk forward. Alex was about to walk through the door when he heard something. Piano music, muffled, was coming from the greenhouse. 

Just at the sound, Alex felt as though he was five years old again, dropped off to spend the day with his grandparents for the first time. He'd stood at the door, knocking, without an answer. Then, he'd heard music and followed it into the greenhouse, where he first saw his grandmother. She was playing the most beautiful song he'd ever heard, and he could do nothing except stand in the doorway with his eyes closed and listen. 

Abruptly, the music stopped, and Alex opened his eyes to see the kind face of his grandmother right there. Fire-engine red lip gloss and gray-green eyes framed by bright blue eyeshadow and long lashes became a familiar sight to him. And, for the first time in his life, Alex was given a hug. 

"Oh, my little Alexander, I am so happy I finally get to meet you." 

Alex blinked, pulling himself back into the present day. He turned away from the front door, knowing that there'd be no answer. In the distance, he could see the figure of his grandfather limping around in the farmyard. He had to be at least ninety years old, still too stubborn to hire someone to care for the animals even with his lame leg. 

The greenhouse was just as beautiful and well-kempt as Alex remembered, though some of the plants were much larger and others were brand-new. Through the glass, Alex could hear the happy bubbling of the creek nearby and the voices of songbirds accompanying the music from the piano. Here, Alex could close his eyes and imagine that he was in heaven, or at least in some paradisiacal afterlife. 

In the center of the giant greenhouse, sunlight poured down on top of a beautiful black grand piano. Sitting at the piano bench was his grandmother. Although thin and frail, she still sat with a straight back and played the piano with steady, strong hands. Still, she had the fire-engine red lip gloss and bright blue eyeshadow, but her gray-green eyes were sad. No longer aflame with light and joy. She seemed...tired. A word that Alex had never thought he could use to describe his grandparents. 

His grandmother finished playing the song, a song that Alex recognized as Prelude No. 1 in C. It was one of her favorite songs to play. She paused as she put the sheet music away carefully in the heavy blue binder filled with her favorite songs. Once that was set aside, she sat at the piano, seeming far too small for such a large instrument. Then, she raised her hands again, carefully placing her hands on the keys. 

With her right hand, she played a few notes to a simple melody. A melody that Alex remembered right from the time he was five to twelve. A song that he and his grandmother wrote together. Alex could play nothing else on the piano except for this song. 

Suddenly, she froze, her hands beginning to shake and she pulled them close to her. It seemed as though even she could not escape from arthritis in her old age, and the playing had taken a toll. Standing up, she grabbed a cane that was leaning on a large pot and shuffled out of the greenhouse. Alex wanted to chase after her, but he couldn't. He didn't know what he'd say. Much less, how he'd explain to her what had happened to him. Alex walked over to the piano, sitting down on the bench. 

Opening the blue binder, Alex found the song. They'd started writing it that day he'd first come here. He'd begged her to teach him how to play the piano, and she agreed. However, Alex just couldn't figure it out. He didn't understand the notes or the keys or how he was supposed to place his hands. 

His grandmother was patient. She suggested that, instead of learning a song, they made their own rules, their own song, for the piano. Instead of having to learn where the notes were and what they were, all Alex had to do was remember where to put his fingers. 

Even years after his parents stopped allowing him to go see his grandparents, Alex would play the song whenever he could. In the church after everyone else had left. In hospital lobbies and anywhere else he could find a piano that was out of the sight and ears of his parents. 

That was his song. And they were not going to ever hear it. It was the one thing in his life that he was determined to not let them ruin. 

Alex reached out, lightly brushing his fingers over the piano keys. Mimicking that simple melody that his grandmother had begun playing before, Alex immediately felt calm. At first, it was just his right hand playing eight notes. Then, he added his right hands playing whole notes at the beginning of each measure. As the song progressed, the song grew more and more complicated, each smooth transition into higher-level intricacy marking each year that he spent being happy. Each year when he felt peace. 

One transition. Two. Three, then four. Adding sixteenth notes, rolls, accidentals, sometimes chords of five or six notes with one hand. Five, six, seven. Seven years where he did not feel alone. Seven years where he was allowed to discover his passion for music and creating. 

Seven years where he knew what it was really like to be loved. 

The last notes of the song echoed through the greenhouse, Alex opening his eyes. He hadn't realized that he'd closed them. Turning his head upward, Alex gazed through the glass ceiling of the greenhouse. There were birds flying overhead, and he could see that there were still nests where robins had roosted up on the white-painted metal poles that supported the glass dome of the greenhouse. 

His breath shaky, but not in a bad way. Tears built in his eyes, but they didn't burn in the way that angry or sad tears did. After years-Now thirty years, to be exact-Alex felt happy again. Genuinely, honestly happy. Not just buzzed from adrenaline or faking a smile because he doesn't want his friends to be worried or just receiving a temporary boost from a funny joke Luke told. 

It was real happiness. 

Because he was home. 

There was the noise of the greenhouse door being swung open, chimes tingling.

Alex spun around as he stood up quickly from the piano bench, nearly falling over. His grandma was standing there, disbelief etched onto her face. There was a single tear on her face and she took a single step forward. She began to raise her arm, as if to reach out to him, but then stopped and dropped it back at her side 

"Alexander?" she whispered.


	9. Chapter 9

"Now I kinda get why this Youtube channel has only one subscriber," Flynn groaned once she and Julie finally watched the last video. "It's a lot of him rambling about the same theories over and over again." 

"Yeah, he rambles too much but then he never makes a last video about the conclusion to his research," Julie muttered, rubbing her eyes. "I can't believe we were up all night. We're gonna so regret it today." 

"Hey! At least it's Saturday," Flynn reminded her. "We can sleep for awhile, but AFTER we do some investigating of our own. Let's go back to the Orpheum." 

"Flynn are you kidding?" Julie rolled her eyes. "I told you I'm not going back in there." 

"No, we're not going back in," Flynn assured her. "We're gonna investigate the surrounding alleyways." 

"Flynn, it's been twenty-five years," Julie pointed out. "The alleyways would've been cleaned, washed by the rain...there's not going to be any evidence left." 

"We don't know that. And, really, Jules? 'Cleaned?' It's California, Julie, they're not cleaning the alleyways," Flynn argued, though not in any malicious way. "We should go. Maybe we could find something that others couldn't." 

Julie thought for a moment before sighing. "Fine. We'll go. But if it's creepy, I'm leaving." 

"Girl, we're doing a murder investigation. This is not going to be all sunshine and rainbows." Flynn began shoving her stuff into a backpack. "Let's grab some breakfast and a cup of coffee or two, and then we can go on a caffeine-hopped investigation." 

There was a knock at the door, and Julie looked up. "Come in!" 

Instead of her dad opening the door and walking inside, Reggie appeared inside of the room. Flynn yelped, but Julie was already starting to get used to them, so she just huffed. 

"What is it?" she asked. 

"Um...I'm sorry if you weren't expecting me..." Reggie trailed off, tugging nervously on the plaid coat tied around his waist. 

"Oh! No! It's fine, it's fine," Julie assured him. "Sorry. We pulled an all-nighter. I don't know how to control my tone."

"Okay. Makes sense." Reggie took a deep breath. "I can take you to where we were killed." 

...

"This is already creepy," Julie whispered as they came upon a temporary chain-link fence loosely wrapped in old, deteriorating caution tape. "Reggie, was this here when you guys were killed?" 

"No," Reggie confirmed. "At least...it couldn't have been. Or else...I would've been killed a whole lot faster." 

"Fair enough." Flynn backed up, running at full speed towards the fence, jumping up and grabbing the top of the fence to fling herself over it. When inside, she picked the lock keeping the gate closed and waved her hand. "Let's go, Jules." 

"This also seems illegal," Julie muttered under her breath as she and Reggie walked inside of the fence.

"Oh no..." Flynn looked around. "It looks like the investigation was just...abandoned." 

Her observation appeared to be correct. There was a table with disposable gloves, crime scene tape, a hand-held magnification glass, a flashlight, tweezers, a box of swabs, paper sacks and envelopes scattered across its top. Some of the envelopes left behind were sealed, bulging with something inside with 'evidence' written across its face. On another table were measuring devices, orange evidence flags, adhesive lint roller and a portable source of infrared, laser or ultraviolet light.

"Flynn, come look at this." Julie crouched down, picking up an official-looking handbag and opening it up. "This is the detective's bag. It has...a camera...a voice recorder...and a notepad." 

"What? No way." Flynn rushed to Julie's side, reaching inside of the bag and pulling out the camera. "This could be all the evidence we need!" 

"Well, maybe. Clearly they thought it was useless." Julie gazed around the many abandoned investigation tools. "It doesn't make sense. All of this stuff is super expensive. Why has none of it been stolen? And why was it left in the first place. And...where's Reggie?" 

They both set the bag and its contents down, looking around. They found Reggie sitting in the middle of the alley some distance away, arms around his knees as he gazed down at the ground. There, they saw the faint, white-painted outline of three bodies. 

"This is where we were," Reggie whispered. "It was horrible. I ran over here and Alex was already dead. Dead people are so pale, Julie. They look like shells." 

"Reggie..." Julie tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but her hand passed right through. "I'm so sorry." 

"I'd already seen Luke. He was still alive. He'd told me to run." Reggie's voice broke. "So many horrible things that night...and we don't even have a grave." 

Flynn's eyebrows creased. "What? Since your case is cold, I thought that police were supposed to give your bodies to your families so that you could be buried." 

Reggie shook his head. "I looked it up. I was trying to mostly check for Alex. Knowing his parents, they probably would've refused to identify his body, so I was worried that he'd be among those labeled as 'unidentified.' Well...we're all identified, but...none of us have been given to our families." 

"That's way too weird," Julie said. "Okay, they call this a cold case, but they leave all evidence and even the tools used to collect the evidence at the crime scene. It looks like they were specifically ordered to leave all this stuff behind." 

"Wait." Flynn grabbed Julie's arm. "Aren't police not supposed to draw outlines around bodies? Doesn't that cause contamination to the crime scene?" 

Julie nodded. "Yeah, they're not supposed to. Movies started to show police drawing outlines around bodies in chalk or paint and that started a craze of 'chalk fairies' who were police who'd outline the body and then disappear from the scene when they realized they contaminated the bodies." 

"Well, that's one thing these detectives did wrong," Flynn muttered. "Along with LEAVING ALL THE EVIDENCE BEHIND!" 

"They really didn't want our case to be solved, huh?" Reggie let out a weak laugh. "Three teenagers, who experienced the most terrifying thing a person could experience. And they don't have the mercy to even let our families bury us." 

"We're going to figure this out, Reggie," Flynn assured him. "Why don't you go back to the studio? You don't need to stick around here if you don't want to." 

Reggie nodded, a flash of light signaling that he had teleported away. Julie and Flynn continued their investigation, using the rubber gloves-which were surprisingly still in fairly good condition-to avoid further contamination, so that they could pick up the detective's bag, find another bag where they started to fill it up with the evidence envelopes, and they found a container of Ziploc bags just in case they found other evidence. 

"If you think about it, this is kind of like the coolest puzzle we could ever solve," Flynn suddenly said, interrupting the silence. "Think of this as we have the entire puzzle in front of us. We don't have a picture on the box to show us what it's supposed to look like. We're almost done with the puzzle, but we're missing a few vital pieces that we need to find in order to make the image on the puzzle make sense." 

Julie laughed. "Why a metaphor?" 

"I don't know. I've been thinking about it and-" Flynn cut off, squinting at the base of one of the old, crumbling buildings that framed the crime scene. "What in the world...?" 

She carefully placed the evidence she'd gathered on the ground. Getting on her stomach, Flynn peered inside of the large, rusting pipe sticking out of the house. Her eyes widened, and she got back up to her feet. 

"Julie, quick! Do you have something that could reach inside of here?" she asked. 

"Um...there's some long tweezers inside of this kit..." Julie pulled a small box out of the bag. 

"Give it me. Quick." Julie placed the tweezers in Flynn's hand, who started poking around inside of the pipe. "These aren't the best for grabbing this, but I just gotta be careful. I hope this hasn't rusted on the inside too..." 

"What is it?" Julie asked, peering over Flynn's shoulder. "I can't see anything." 

"I need a flashlight, stat!" Flynn ordered. "And you'll see in a second if I'm right!" 

Removing her gloves and shoving them in her back pocket, Julie grabbed her phone and turned on the flashlight, shining it in whatever direction Flynn instructed her to do. She still couldn't see what Flynn was trying to grab, but Julie had also never seen Flynn so determined and patient and careful with a task, so she trusted that whatever she was trying to grab was important. 

"It's stuck," Flynn grumbled. "Is there like...a hacksaw, or something we could use to try and cut the pipe?" 

Yeah, I think so." Julie looked around at all over the scattered tools. "I think this is a hacksaw? It's pretty rusted too, though." 

"We have to try." Flynn handed her back the tweezers and picked up the hacksaw. "This could change the entire case." 

Flynn went to work on sawing through the metal pipe, which was thankfully much more damaged than hacksaw. Julie could guess that the pipe had been sticking out of that wall and rusting long before the investigation took place. Once Flynn seemed to get tired, Julie took a turn cutting the pipe. It was taking a long time to cut, and they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. That was, until Flynn stopped cutting and started to bend the pipe. The damage they'd done mixed with how rusted the pipe was made the metal snap, the end of the pipe falling to the ground with a loud clang. 

"Yes!" Julie and Flynn exclaimed at the same time. 

Flynn picked up the pipe and immediately started to hit it on the ground, trying to dislodge whatever was stuck inside. Then, they heard another more silvery clang. Carefully, Flynn picked up the pipe, the object inside slipping from it with ease. Once they could clearly see what it was, illuminated by the fading sunlight, they both stared at each other in silent awe and a bit of disbelief and fear. 

There, lying on the ground, protected by the pipe from rust and weathering and from the eyes of lazy investigators, was a large kitchen knife.


	10. Chapter 10

"Well, that went well," Flynn snickered as they left the convenience store. "He totally thinks we murdered someone." 

"Wow I wonder why?" Julie rolled her eyes with a laugh. "We go in, wearing gloves and masks, buy a single package of paper bags, open the paper bags and put a huge, possibly-bloodstained knife inside of it, as we're holding moldy fabric bags full of who-knows-what in envelopes labeled 'evidence.'" 

"Um...yeah, we should probably watch out for police. Turn here." 

"So, where are we going again?" Julie asked as she followed behind Flynn. 

"My house," Flynn reminded her. "I think my mom can help with this." 

"Which mom? Lucia or Reagan? I thought that they both worked as models," Julie said tightening her grip on the bags. 

"Both of them," Flynn replied. "They met each other in college because Lucia was taking forensics and chemistry while Reagan was studying to become a crime scene investigator. Neither of them ended up working for the law, but they have the degrees." 

"That's awesome." 

They walked to Flynn's house, which was a small brick house with a white-picket fence. Lucia was outside in the garden, picking oranges from their tree and putting them in a bucket. Flynn ran forward to hug her, but then stopped when she remembered that she was carrying a lot of things that were possibly diseased or at least just really gross. 

"Hi mom!" she shouted through her mask. 

Lucia turned around with a confused smile. "Oh, there you are Flynn! Hello, Julie! How was your sleepover? And...why are you wearing a mask?" 

"Wild. And it's because we...went on an adventure!" Flynn explained. "We found some things and we thought they were weird and so we want you and Mama to help us see if we can discover something." 

"Sure, sweetie!" Lucia brushed her hands off on her overalls and picked up the bucket of oranges. "Just let me put these in the kitchen, and then I can help you guys." 

...

"So, would you like to explain how you ended up with a murder weapon?" 

Julie and Flynn glanced at each other, and then Julie nodded at Flynn, assuring her that she could tell them. "We found a channel on Youtube that had only one subscriber. It covered the murder of three boys that happened in 1995, and it's never been solved. So...we kind of sort of decided to do our own investigation." 

Reagan and Lucia glanced at each other, Reagan letting out a sigh and running a hand through her short-cut blue-dyed hair. "I'm sorry to tell you, Flynn, but by moving evidence you've probably interrupted an ongoing investigation-" 

"Mama, just listen to me. It's a cold case. We only went there because we wanted to check the place out. All of the stuff is still there from the investigation. And by 'stuff' I mean EVERYTHING. Here, look." 

Flynn and Julie took off the bags they had on their shoulders, taking out the envelopes labeled 'evidence,' the camera, the notepad, and all of the other objects that they had taken from the crime scene. Reagan and Lucia stared at them in disbelief, Lucia picking up the camera carefully and popping it open. 

"Film camera," she confirmed. "And it's been used." 

Reagan opened up the journal. "Lots of water damage, and mold. But I think, if given time, I can figure out what's written in here." 

"Wait...you're gonna help us?" Flynn grinned, hugging them both tightly. "You're the best!" 

"Your dad's gonna be here soon," Lucia told her. "And I think he could get us access to the chemicals I'll need to test the knife to see if it has blood traces on it. I think he'll be incredibly interested in this as well." 

"Oh yeah!" Flynn whipped around to Julie. "You've never met my dad before! I met him three years ago and he's AWESOME! He's a chemistry teacher and he blows things up as a side job!" 

"Totally sounds like the guy who'd be your dad," Julie laughed. "But...shouldn't we take this evidence to the police?" 

"No." Lucia shook her head. "I have several reasons for saying that. Clearly, they did not care about this case. Unless something dangerous or urgent interrupted their investigation, there's no reason for everything to abandoned there." 

"And you know how we feel about the police. They betrayed our trust, and it nearly cost our lives," Reagan reminded them. "Get your gloves on Lucy. These kids need our help." 

...

"Ever since you left that December, we never heard from you or your parents again," Alex's grandmother explained as she took a sip of steaming tea. "You're positive you don't want anything?" 

"I have no stomach, Oma," Alex reminded her. "So they didn't even tell that...I..." 

She shook her head. "Nothing. Not a word. In fact, your sister hardly reached out to us-" 

"Hold up." Alex raised his hand. "Sister?" 

"Yes, well, I suppose that you wouldn't have heard of her. It possible that she knows nothing of you. She's twenty-four years old, has two little babies. Twins. She said that she spent her whole life being told that she had no grandparents. That we passed away before she was born." Oma rolled her eyes. "I didn't fix tanks in the war and survive an air raid only for my wayward daughter to tell my granddaughter that I'm dead." 

"How's Opa?" Alex asked, changing the subject so that he didn't zone out thinking about the fact that he had a sister. He'd deal with that later. 

"Stubborn, thickheaded, and still the love of my life," Oma chuckled. "Refuses to stop working. I find it quite admirable, but also incredibly foolish. If I can hardly play the piano anymore, then surely it's not easy for him to exercise the horse or wrangle the hens when they get out." She glanced outside. "It seems like he's heading back here. Are you alright with seeing him, Alexander?" 

"If...he can see me. I'm quite new to this whole...being visible thing," Alex admitted. 

They sat there silently, as the doorknob rattled, signaling that Alex's grandfather had arrived. The door swung open, but he didn't look over at the table right away, as he was wiping his glasses on his shirt and knocking the mud off of his boots. 

"Monkia," he started, then starting to speak rapidly in his birth tongue of German.

Alex was surprised to find that, even after so long, he was able to still understand the words quite easily. He could barely speak German, but after spending time with his grandparents, he got quite good at understanding bits and pieces of it until he could guess what was being said from the parts he understood. His grandfather was complaining about how the hens had gotten into the pig's pen and had started immediately eating the orange slices that he'd given the pig as a treat. Alex wanted to laugh. It seemed that his grandfather still had a strong hatred for chickens, even though he always caved into getting more since his grandmother loved them. 

"Fools," he muttered, putting his glasses back on and taking his boots off. "I don't understand how you put up with them, Monika. Chickens are dumb enough to eat what could poison..." 

He froze, dropping the boots on the ground. So he could see Alex. Standing slowly, Alex smiled nervously. Hands in his pockets, he rocked slightly on his face. 

"Hey, Opa," he said in a voice hoarse with suppressed emotion. 

Faster than it seemed possible with his lame leg, Alex's grandfather rushed over to him and wrapped him in a tight hug. "Mein kleiner Junge, mein lieber Enkel, es geht dir gut. Du bist hier. Es geht dir gut." 

My little boy. 

My dear grandson. 

You are fine. 

You're here.

You are fine.

"You're...you're hugging me," Alex realized in disbelief. 

"Of course I am, snicklefritz," his grandfather gently cupped Alex's face with both of his hands as if he was afraid he'd slip away. "I can't believe you're here." 

"I haven't been called that since I was nine," Alex chuckled, hugging him again and burying his face into his shoulder. "I missed you both so much." 

"Don't hog him, Dieter, I want a hug too," Monika appeared beside him, wrapping Alex in her arms as well. "We missed you too. Does this mean you can have some biscuits now?" 

"No." Alex wiped his eyes with his hands, laughing. "I still can't eat." 

"Can't eat? Preposterous!" Dieter exclaimed. "Except, I don't blame you. Her biscuits do dry you out something awful." 

"Dieter if you want to insult my cooking then I just won't cook for you," Monika warned him. "Alex, would you like to explain to him your situation?" 

"I..." Alex trialed off, swallowing. 

Monika sighed, patting him on the back. "That's fine. Honey, Alex is dead." 

Dieter squinted at her. "Woman, I knew that you would go senile someday but I did not think it would be today." 

"No, Opa, she's telling the truth," Alex said. "Think about it. Do I look like I'm over forty years old?" 

"Well, um...I suppose not," Dieter admitted, turning to Monika and pointing at Alex. "Dear, are you saying that he's here to take us to the afterlife?" 

"Honey, no." Monika lightly smacked his hand down. "Alex and his friends were involved in an accident. Electrical, it seems." 

Alex's stomach twisted. It felt wrong, lying to his grandparents. But it also didn't feel right to tell them right away that he had been a victim of a brutal murder. It would've been too much too soon. Besides, they were incredibly elderly, and Alex was honestly sort of afraid that letting them know what happened would be too much for them. 

"Electrical?" Dieter repeated. "However did that happen?" 

"I, um...joined a band. Lots of...electrical instruments. Wires everywhere," Alex summarized, fiddling with his fanny pack. "Just took a single faulty plug and we all just...yeah." 

"Well, I'm sorry about that, kiddo. Don't seem that fun," Dieter muttered. "And your parents didn't let us know? And how long ago did this happen?" 

"Twenty-five years ago," Monika answered. "And no, they didn't. I suppose that we were still a...bad influence on their perfectly molded child. But surely we would've heard something about you! We may live up here in the mountains but we have a television and we get the newspaper every day." 

"I would've thought the grief of losing you would be the only thing to knock them back to their senses to contact us. But, I suppose I was wrong. Guess our daughter is just as stubborn as the both of us," Dieter laughed lightly. 

"No, um...that's because they...didn't grieve. Over me..." Alex wanted to kick himself. He never wanted his grandparents to worry about him. 

His parents had to be perfect. That conditioning was still fresh in his mind. Even to his own grandparents, he had to pretend like they loved him and that they were the most amazing parents to ever exist. 

And just now, that conditioning had fragmented. 

"Alexander, whatever do you mean?" Monika asked gently. "Of course their relationship with us was quite rocky, but...they loved you so much." 

Alex shook his head, not knowing why he was continuing and yet needing to let them know. "They hated me." 

"Bud, they certainly were strict, but they would spend hours speaking to friends and other family members about how amazing and wonderful you were." Dieter was obviously just as confused as Monika. 

"It was all an act." Alex could feel a tear slip down his face and he looked at the ground. "Every single part of our public display as a loving family was an act. They hated me. The moment the doors were closed they would always remind me that I was never good enough. That I should've smiled more. That I didn't act happy enough. That I...that I would never..."

Swallowing, Alex felt silent, shutting his eyes. He felt a warm hand on his face, and he opened his eyes to see the loving, comforting smiles of his grandparents. 

They weren't going to hurt him. 

They weren't going to judge him. 

He was safe with them.

"Alexander, it's okay," Dieter told him. "You can tell us everything."


	11. Chapter 11

"Alex still isn't back?" Reggie asked Luke, who was plucking at the strings on his guitar. 

"Of course he isn't," Luke muttered. "He's with his grandparents, remember?" 

Reggie's eyebrows creased. "Luke, you good, man? You sound mad." 

"I'm not mad." Luke sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Perhaps a bit jealous. But not mad." 

"Jealous?" Reggie sat down on the couch in front of Luke. "Why jealous? Oooh, I think I know why." 

"Yeah. I just...wish I had the courage or the ability to speak to my parents," Luke whispered as he set down his guitar. "They deserve some answers. And...I want to talk to them again." 

"I know. I do too." Reggie stood up and hugged Luke snugly. "But maybe...maybe this is his unfinished business." 

Luke backed away, his heart dropping. "What?" 

"Maybe he had to go and see his grandparents again, and that was his unfinished business," Reggie explained. "Maybe...he's already crossed over." 

"You two are dramatic." 

Luke and Reggie whipped around to see Alex standing at the entrance of the studio, a huge smile on his face. "Honestly, I'm gone for a few hours and you think I crossed over? You both should audition for Shakespeare. Come here, you two disasters." 

He spread his arms out wide, Reggie and Luke both wrapping him in a firm hug. They stood there for awhile, mostly because Alex offering hugs was such a rare occasion, but also because they all realized that they were terrified that they would cross over one by one and at some point they'd end up alone. Alex took a deep breath and stepped away from Alex and Reggie. 

"So, um...where's Julie?" he asked. 

"She's at Flynn's house," Reggie replied. "I didn't want to be in that alleyway with them but I also wasn't going to leave them on their own for longer than twenty minutes there. I only really left when I heard that they had a safe place to go to." 

"You're a good man, Reg." Luke patted him on the back. "How did visiting with your grandparents go?" 

"It went really well," Alex replied. "But, uh...that's kinda why I was wondering where Julie was. I...sort of told them about us getting murdered. And...let's just say that they don't want whoever killed us to get away with it." 

"Dude, what? Your grandparents have to be like..." Luke counted on his fingers for a moment. "Almost a century old! They can't get involved in this." 

"You almost said word-for-word what I told them. Trust me, I don't want them involved either, but they're determined to help." Alex tapped his foot. "Also, on my way back, I ran into my ghost friend again. He told me that...if we still need more help with the case, he knows a ghost that could help us." 

"Really? That's awesome, you should take him up on that," Luke told him. "Of course, let's see how today goes. Then I want to talk to this ghost. Did your friend say anything else?" 

"Um...that he'd love to hear some of our songs sometime," Alex replied, his head snapping over to the drumset he just seemed to realize was there. "Hold up. You brought our stuff here from the Orpheum?" 

" 'Course, dude. Couldn't just let it sit there and get covered in dust." Luke hopped over a couch, picking up his backpack and opening it. "Here you go." 

He tossed Alex a pair of his drumsticks; his favorite ones, to be exact, and Alex grinned while spinning them. "Awesome, dude. Thanks. I'll be right back, guys." 

Alex shoved the drumsticks into his hoodie pocket and turned to leave, but Reggie grabbed his shoulder. "Hey man, what gives? You just got here and we were about to jam out with you." 

"And we'll do that," Alex said. "But I've got to introduce my grandparents to Julie first." 

...

“Nothing.” Reagan sighed in frustration. “Everything just seems to lead to a dead end.” 

“Same here,” Lucia groaned, rubbing her eyes. “Sorry girls. Seems like there’s a reason why this case was abandoned.” 

“This doesn’t make sense.” Flynn looked at the evidence they had carefully removed from the bags. “Everything seems to be here, and yet there’s no solution.” 

“It’s like we’re missing just one piece of the puzzle,” Julie agreed. 

Reagan and Lucia glanced at each other before Reagan pulled out the camera. “Girls, we’re going to see if we can develop the film in here. I don’t think it’s imagery suitable for you to view. So...how about you go clean up, change your clothes, and go to the bakery nearby?” 

Flynn nodded, removing her gloves. “Sounds good to me. Let’s go, Julie.” 

They took turns taking showers, Julie first as Flynn found some clothes for her. As Flynn was in the shower, Julie took the clothes they had been wearing and threw them in the laundry on “sanitize.” They didn’t know what kinds of molds were on the bags or what was on the pieces of evidence so they wanted to wash what they were wearing as thoroughly as possible. Once they were both dressed and their hair put up into messy hairdos, they walked down the street to the bakery. 

“What do you think the photos are of?” Flynn piped up as they sat down with their coffee and muffins. 

“I think we both know that it’s gonna be the mutilated bodies of the guys,” Julie muttered. “There’s a reason why Lucia and Reagan don’t want us to see them.” 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Flynn leaned back in her seat as she took a sip of her coffee. “It must be so weird, being them. Knowing that, somewhere, you have a grave. And in that grave is your body. That’d be some existential crisis.” 

“No kidding.” Julie took a bite from her poppy-seed muffin. 

“I’m just so confused. Why can no one figure this out?!” Flynn crossed her arms. “I claim sabotage.” 

“It’s already been sabotaged by homophobic police,” Julie reminded her. “I GUESS we can try to get police involved again-“

“Are you INSANE Julie?!” Flynn interrupted her. “That’s a horrible idea. And they won’t help us. Trust me. They would’ve already opened the case again.” 

“You’re right,” Julie grumbled. “I just wish there were more answers.” 

There was some moments of silence as they finished their muffins. As they did, Flynn noticed that there was a man in the corner of the cafe that kept staring at them. He was wearing a top hat and...was that a magician’s outfit? Flynn instantly didn’t trust him. She sent a glare his way and he instantly averted his gaze. 

“Who’re you glaring at?” Julie asked, noticing the change in Flynn’s expression. 

“There’s some creep that keeps looking at us,” Flynn explained. “Let’s try and get out of here as soon as possible.” 

“Sounds like a plan.” Julie glanced back at the man. “Getting kidnapped doesn’t sound fun.” 

“Don’t worry. I’ve got pepper spray and a taser,” Flynn informed her. “It’s California, Jules. You have to start bringing this stuff around with you too.” 

Julie and Flynn finished their coffee and muffins, throwing the wrappers and cups away as they left the bakery. They were halfway to Flynn’s house when they heard footsteps behind them. 

“Excuse me-“ 

Flynn spun around, holding out her taser and stopping the stranger dead in his tracks. “Don’t take another step before you explain why you’re following us, Mister.” 

His lips curled in a smile as he bowed, tipping his hat. “Caleb Covington, at your service, darling.” 

“Don’t call me darling, Covington. This isn’t the eighteen-hundreds.” Flynn gave a warning buzz of her taser. 

Caleb sighed, straightening up and placing his hat back on his head. “No one has any manners anymore. Very well. I’m here to offer a deal. I couldn’t help but overhear you two at the bakery. You’re talking about the case of Sunset Curve, were you not?” 

Julie glanced at Flynn then back at Caleb. “What does it mean to you?” 

“Just LISTEN.” Caleb crossed his arms as he tapped his foot. “I run a very specific sort of business. I have a client who I suspect was involved in that case who’s evaded the contract they made with me. I think we can help each other.” 

“Uh huh. So what is this business? I’m really interested.” Julie mimicked his stance. “Is it the mafia?” 

“It’s a club,” Caleb explained. “You don’t need to know anything else. Except that I am not a person to be disrespected. Now hold your tongue and let me explain.” 

“Fine.” Flynn and Julie rolled their eyes. 

“There’s only one thing I can tell you,” Caleb told them. “But I think it may be the answer to your problems.” 

“Get to it, man,” Flynn huffed. 

Now Caleb was appearing as frustrated as his voice suggested. “I’m GETTING there. Now, I had a client come to me one day. Offered me his soul in order for a favor.” 

“So you’re Satan?” Julie asked. 

“Absolutely not. Satan has NO sense of style or extravagance. And I thought I told you two to keep your mouths shut,” Caleb hissed. “Back to my story, he asked me if I could make it impossible for a crime he committed to be solved. That crime happened to be the murder of the members of Sunset Curve.” 

“This man committed murder, and you just gave him a way to get away with it?!” Flynn exclaimed. “Their families are left without closure and a murderer walks free because of you!” 

“It’s just show business, darling. You wouldn’t understand. He offered me his eternal servitude, but he hasn’t shown up at my club since. So, since he hasn’t kept his side of the contract, I can break mine a bit,” Caleb explained. “Though not entirely, so that it still stands. I require a new waiter.” 

Julie shot Flynn a confused expression. “Oh...Kay sounds fair. So, what’s the tip?” 

“My client isn’t the murderer,” Caleb informed them. “He hired two people to kill his son.” 

...

Julie and Flynn slammed the door shut, causing Reagan and Lucia to jump. 

“Goodness, girls! Don’t do that!” Lucia looked critically at both of them. “You both look like you’ve seen the devil himself. What gives?” 

“We have more evidence!” Julie burst out. “We...we got a tip!” 

“A tip? From who?” Reagan asked. 

Flynn was about to give them the explanation she and Julie came up with when there was a knock at the door. “We’ll get that.”  
Julie and Flynn walked to the door, expected to see Caleb standing there. But it was Alex and and elderly couple. 

“Oh, hi, Alex. Um...who are these people? And...is that a sniper gun?” Julie pointed to the large gun in Dieter’s hand. “Alex, what is going on?” 

“Sorry, Julie. They were insistent. And I couldn’t get him to leave his gun behind,” Alex apologized. 

“We’re Alex’s grandparents,” Monika explained. “And we’d like to know who killed him.”


	12. Chapter 12

"Sadly, I'm not surprised to hear this new lead," Monika sighed as Reagan handed her a glass of water. "Thank you, sweetheart. Anyways, Emilia and Louis would anything to maintain their reputation. I'm afraid Dieter and I taught Emilia that, and Louis's parents were as strict as we were." 

"But do you think they'd ever want to kill their son?" Lucia asked bluntly, making Alex flinch. Of course, she didn't know he was there, so she hadn't meant any harm with her words. 

"When Monika said anything, she means anything," Dieter explained. "Their reputation was the only reason why they allowed Alexander to come to our house even though they both hated us. To make it seem like we were a happy family. Hiring hitmen seems more likely than them wanting to get closer than 100 miles to us." 

"They sound wonderful," Reagan muttered. "Do you know where they live?" 

Monika shook her head. "No. They've refused to speak to us for years and their daughter refuses to speak to them. The last she heard was that they moved about a year ago and no one knows where. Didn't even tell any of the members of their congregation. Just up and left out of the blue." 

"What's your granddaughter's name?" Julie spoke up. 

"Crescentia Smith. She goes by Crissy," Dieter informed her. "Her husband's name is Edward, and she has twins named Angel and...Alex. After her brother." 

Julie stole a glance at Alex, whose jaw went tight. There were so many things that could be going through his head at that moment. Questions that he didn't know how to ask and couldn't ask here at the moment. It was a lot to process, learning that your parents gave someone money to kill you and your friends. And, from a brief explanation Alex gave her, he had no clue that he had a sister until today. 

"Is it okay if I have her address?" Julie asked. "I have an idea as to how we could figure out where Emilia and Louis are." 

Flynn lit up. "Oh! That's right! Julie knows what she's doing. I know what she's doing. I have no clue how it's done, but she's done it before!" 

Monika let out a small chuckle. "I'm sure you two know what you're doing. I'm so grateful for what you're doing for our grandson and his friends. Especially since grown adults that would get paid for solving this aren't even trying." 

"It just doesn't feel right," Julie said. "It doesn't feel right to let this case continue to go cold just because of who they were. Besides, I'm almost as old as they were. Their lives were just beginning. So it's only fair to catch who did this to them." "And we can't even begin to thank you." Monika reached over and grabbed both Flynn and Julie's hand, giving a quick squeeze. "Here, I'll give you her address." 

...

Alex waited in his grandparents' car. He'd had to leave the longer the conversation went on because all he could think about was how he had a sister that didn't even know about him until recently and yet she'd named her child after him. What was she like? Did she know he was gay? He thought that Monika had said that she didn't know anything about him. Finally, Monika and Dieter opened the car doors and sat down. 

"I thought you said that my sister didn't know about me?" Alex whispered. 

Monika sighed. "I'd known that she named her little girl Alex. Alexandria is her full name, and I believed it to be just a coincidence. Now I'm thinking that perhaps it wasn't a coincidence. She's never said anything about you, but that could just be because she never thinks to bring you up to us. Or maybe she thinks that we don't know about you. No matter the case, I'm now inclined to think that she does know about you." 

"I want to talk to her," Alex decided. "I won't tell her who I am. But...I want to talk to her. Where can I speak to her?" 

Dieter and Monika looked at each other, then Dieter turned back to Alex. "Every Saturday, at noon, she goes to the cemetery to see the grave of a friend that passed away. It's the cemetery near the church you went to. I definitely don't think you should approach her while she's in the cemetery but maybe you can catch her as she's leaving." 

"Thank you." Alex leaned over and hugged them both. "Thank you for everything. Don't worry about me anymore. Julie and Flynn will figure this out. I know they will." 

"I am so glad that we got to see you again, Alex," Monika kissed his forehead. "It gave us the peace we never knew we needed." 

"We'll see you again someday." Dieter smiled. "Good luck, snicklefritz. You'll make it to the other side." 

Alex teleported away, appearing inside the studio where Luke and Reggie were waiting for him. "So...we have a lead on who killed us." 

"Really?" Luke took his guitar off of his shoulder, carefully setting it on the floor. "Who is it?" 

"Well not who killed us specifically..." Alex trailed off, debated for a moment on whether or not he should tell them. "My parents. They hired hitmen." 

"Oh." Luke reached out and patted Alex's shoulder. "That...sucks." 

"Yeah, it's fine, I didn't know what to say either," Alex assured him. 

Reggie's face was pale. "Hitmen? Why?!" 

"I have a few guesses, but we'll find out the truth soon enough." Alex walked over to his drum set and sat down. "Julie and Flynn are gonna figure this out." 

"Yeah, I trust that, but are you okay?" Luke asked. 

"Actually, I am," Alex admitted. "I don't care anymore. If they hate me for being gay that's their problem. I hope they have fun burning in hell for having their own son killed. It'd sure be a surprise to them." 

Luke and Reggie let out weak laughs, Reggie plucking at his bass. "You sure you're good Alex?" 

"I'm fine," Alex assured them one last time. "You guys want to hear a beat I've been working on? I think you'll like it." 

...

It felt wrong and awkward to be standing outside of a cemetery, even thought Alex could see a few other ghosts wandering the premises. He knew that they were ghosts because they had waved at him and then walked through lifers, as Willie called them. Apparently all the horror movies and paranormal theorists were correct; ghosts did hang out around cemetaries a lot. He wondered why. Perhaps they were like him, hoping and praying for a chance to speak to a loved one. Maybe they were trying to figure out a way to get back to their own bodies. There were hundreds of possible reasons as to why they could be here. Though, if Alex found it unsettling, knowing that there were dozens of dead people visiting their own tombstones, he'd be hypocrite. 

A whoosh beside him startled him, and Alex turned to see Willie standing beside him. "Hey, man. What're you up to?" 

"How'd you know I was here?" Alex asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

"I was skating over there." Willie pointed gestured behind them towards a park about a half-mile from the cemetery. "And I saw you. I know that it's hard being dead, man, but don't start visiting your own grave. It messes you up." 

"That's...not why I'm here. Trust me, I've thought about looking for my tombstone, but...I realized that I really don't know where I'm buried. There's a good chance I'm not buried at all. I sure know that my parents wouldn't have been the ones to bury me, anyways," Alex muttered, then taking a deep breath and continuing with a stronger voice. "I found out I have a sister. She visits here for a friend. But I...I honestly don't know how much longer I can stand here, waiting for her to show up." 

"Why's that?" Willie absentmindedly took Alex's hand, making the drummer's heart beat quickly at the sudden but oh-so-casual gesture. "Didn't you just get here?" 

"I'm not impatient it's..." Alex swallowed. "It's the church." 

Willie grinned impishly. "What, are you a demon and entering it burns you? Is that why you're standing outside of the cemetery entrance instead of going inside?" 

Alex shook his head, closing his eyes. He tried to speak but he couldn't. He knew Willie hadn't meant to trigger anything, but the mentions of demons and burning just made him think back to his exorcism. The priest trying to toss the 'wicked, lustful, homosexual devil' out of him, the warnings that if he didn't repent his soul would burn, the- 

"Alex, are you alright?" Willie whispered. "You're looking pale. And ghosts shouldn't be able to look pale." 

"I haven't been telling you much about myself," Alex said quietly, his voice somewhat strangled. "And there's a reason for that. You know that I'm anxious. And you know that I struggle with depressive episodes. That's...a lot for me to trust you with but I tell you those things because you ARE trustworthy even though we haven't known each other for that long." 

"Look at me, Alex," Willie squeezed his hand tightly. "Please. I'm worried that you're about to faint." 

Alex opened his eyes, gazing into the warmth of Willie's concerned gaze. It washed over him and left him with a sense of comfort he hadn't felt ever since he'd died. And that had felt like so long ago and yet only yesterday. Willie pulled Alex into a hug. A grounding, comforting, gentle hug. Not one of Luke's strangling bear hugs. Not Reggie's snuggle-into-Alex's-back- from-behind hugs. It was grounding and comforting and so loose that it was hardly there but it felt more secure than even when Alex was staying with his grandparents. At his grandparent's house, Alex always knew that his parents were going to come back and get him. He could never truly relax because every single day was just another day closer to going back home. But here, in Willie's embrace, Alex knew that he could never be hurt again. 

"You can tell me anything," Willie whispered in Alex's ear, hardly more than a breath. "I care about you, and I'm not going to judge you. I just want to help." 

"I hate religious symbols," Alex started, his walls torn away again for probably the fifth time this week. "And this church...this is where I used to go to church. I can't even look at the glass-stained windows that I used to love looking at so much because that was what I saw just barely above my parent's disapproving faces every time I sang in the choir."

Alex's barriers didn't use to be so weak. As he'd grown up, he'd spent so much time carefully building walls around his trauma that he thought could never be toppled. He didn't want to bother anyone with his problems and if he'd opened up to his parents he probably would've gotten slapped or told that he just needed to toughen up. But when his life ended so suddenly, that barrier began to crumble. Spilling his feelings out to people seemed to have become a regular occurrence as of late. 

He told Willie everything. From when he first realized he liked boys in second grade to his exorcism when he was fifteen to just finding out that his parents had hired men to kill him today and all of the horrible things he experienced in between. The entire time, Willie held him, refusing to let go even Alex tried to pull away. Alex was grateful for this, as it grounded him and kept him from running from Willie. He needed to tell him these things despite his desire to keep him to himself. Willie deserved to know, especially if he wanted to be his friend in the long run. 

"Dude, you need a therapist," Willie laughed weakly once Alex paused to take a shaky breath. "Like bad." 

"Sadly I don't think there're any ghost therapists." Alex buried his face into Willie's neck, breathing in his scent. "I'm sorry if that was too much." 

"Don't apologize, man, that's not fair to yourself." Willie pulled away, and Alex longed for his embrace again until he saw that Willie's eyes were a bit red from tears. "You're hurting, Alex, and it seems like you haven't admitted that to yourself yet. No one should ever have that happen to them, and should especially never be treated like that by their own parents." 

"You look like you're the one that needs a hug now." Alex spread his arms out slightly, and Willie immediately collapsed into the embrace. "Now spill all your feelings to me." 

That earned him a laugh from Willie, a muffled one as his face was pressed against Alex's chest. "Some other day, Alex. I don't need to spill my feelings right after you let all of yours out. Knowing you, you'll probably try to fix all of my problems even if they're clearly unfixable." 

"Hm. Maybe. But it feels unfair now. I feel much better after telling you everything. You ought to share at least one thing with me." Alex tapped Willie on the shoulder, Willie looking up into his eyes. "Please?" 

Willie backed up, messing with a silver ring he had on his finger. Already his eyes were not looking as blotchy but his composure was still much more down than before. "Don't listen to Caleb." 

"What?" 

"Caleb approached your friends, the two girls, a day or so ago. I think it was yesterday. No, two days ago. On Thursday. Julie and Flynn, right?" 

"Yes, that's them, but, Willie, who's Caleb?" Alex asked. 

Looking around as if afraid, Willie lowered his voice to a whisper. "He was speaking to them. Of course, I couldn't get close enough to hear what they were saying, but don't trust him. This is what he does to lure people into working for him. Tell Julie and Flynn to not listen to him. He'll keep giving them more and more to help them with your case but none of it will be true. Or, if it is, he'll use it as leverage to take their soul from them. The more 'favors' they get out of him the more of their soul he owns." 

Alex opened his mouth to speak when he heard a woman's voice behind him. "Alex! Hurry up!" He whipped around and his breath was taken away. There was a woman standing at the entrance, tall and thin with long blonde hair and bright green eyes. Beside her, holding her hand loosely, fingers intertwined, was a man slightly shorter than her with shoulder-length dreads tied back in a lazy bun and a beautiful, brilliant smile. On either side of them were twins, one clutching his father's hand and the other running up to grab her mother's left hand. They were all wearing nice casual clothes, like something you'd wear to a party or a family dinner. 

"Eddie, do you have the flowers?" she asked now in a more hushed tone as they were closer to the cemetery. 

"I do, mom," their son replied, holding up four hand-picked flowers. "Do you think he'll like them?" 

"Of course, Buddy," Eddie assured him. "Crissy taught you well on which are the best flowers to pick." 

Alex turned around but Willie had left. Odd. But he couldn't worry about his disappearance for too long. Because that was his sister and her family-his niece, nephew, and brother-in-law- standing right in front of him. They were about to go inside the cemetery fence when Crissy suddenly paused, a confused look on her face as she turned to look straight at Alex. 

"Are you okay, young man?" she asked sweetly. "You seem quite upset."


	13. Chapter 13

Ever since Alex was six years old, he'd always wanted a little sister. Not a little brother, because he'd learned from friends that little brothers were rude and mean and horrible. A little sister sounded nice though. Because then he could be a role model for her. Protect her from bullies, sing her lullabies at night, teach her the ABC's and promise her that he was never going to let anyone hurt her ever because she was his little sister. He'd even expressed this want to his parents who very quickly said no to him. Not because they didn't want another child-though Alex now suspected that was also the case-but, in their exact words, they told him "You'd be a bad brother and end up dragging her to hell with you with your horrible behavior." 

Being an only child was a very lonely life for Alex. He had no idea how Luke managed, being his extroverted self. Then again, Luke actually had parents who loved him and took hours out of their day to give him attention and care. He had no want or need for siblings because then that'd mean less attention from his parents. Alex, however, didn't have loving parents. He's just wanted someone who would keep him company. Instead, he was told at age six that he'd be the reason why any sibling he had would go to hell when they died. So, from that day forward, Alex still wanted that companionship but knew that he'd never get it. 

But now, there was his little sister. Standing right in front of him. The one person that Alex wanted to have in his life even though he'd never met her. 

"Excuse me, are you alright?" she waved her hand in front of his face. 

"Oh, um...sorry." Alex straightened up, clearing his throat. "You just...look like someone I know. Sorry." 

"It's okay, don't apologize. You...do to..." Crissy trailed off, smile fading before it reappeared suddenly, looking reassuring and warm. "You look a bit pale. It is hot out today, and you're wearing a jacket."

"Yeah, that was a bad decision on my part," Alex laughed uncomfortably. "Sorry to make you stop. I'm just...waiting for a friend to pick me up." 

"Well, I'm glad that you're alright, and I hope that they arrive soon. It was nice to meet you..." Crissy held out her hand, waiting. 

Hesitantly, Alex reached out and took her hand, relieved when he was able to grab it. "Alex." 

"Alex," Crissy repeated, and Alex immediately wanted to kick himself for being dumb and not coming up with a fake name. "I'm Crissy. Have a good day, Alex." 

And just like that, she was walking away, her husband's hand in her's and her kids following behind them like ducklings. Alex could hear their little girl asking "Why does MOM get to talk to strangers but not us?" and he felt his throat tighten. They'd never know. They would never know that they had just seen their mom talking to their dead uncle. That he wanted nothing more than to go back in time and tell himself to not go down that ally and to stay in the Orpheum. Sunset Curve would've become huge after that night, Alex would've gotten his little sister, and...who knew? Instead of creeping around a graveyard like a stereotypical ghost, wandering around aimlessly as two teenage girls tried to solve his and his friends' murders, his life would be completely different. 

He'd be forty, living in the old cabin on his grandparents' property that he'd wanted to buy from them. Maybe he'd have a boyfriend or a husband. That was allowed now. Alex wouldn't have kids of his own; he was still thoroughly convinced that he'd be a terrible father. But he could try to be a good uncle. Spoil his niece and nephew and give them everything that his parents had refused him. Make sure that his sister's kids had the perfect childhood that Alex could only dream of. He'd thought a lot about how he'd be as an uncle, even though he didn't have a sibling until now. As Alex sat on the bench outside of the cemetery, Alex played the scenario he'd thought of so often but now with his sister and his niece and nephew in place of the faceless figures he usually had. 

Alex would've been there to meet his sister after she was able to come back from the hospital. He'd hold Alexandria and Angel in his arms as Crissy slept, giving her and Edward a break. When Angel and Alexandria turned five, he'd surprise them-and their parents-with a golden retriever. He knew that like any other kids they'd beg for a dog that their parents wouldn't get without some encouragement. They'd come to spend every weekend with him, and he'd take him to the amusement parks, restaurants, and stores that he'd always wanted to go to but got snapped at for being greedy whenever he mentioned wanting to go there. Alex would never raise his voice at them, he'd wipe their tears away, teach them how to be good people, tell them the same bedtime story over and over just because they requested it. He'd make sure that these kids knew that they were worth everything in the world. 

But he'd never get to do that now. 

Every time Alex was given time to himself, he regretted it because he would immediately feel like his heart was filled with stone. Weighed down by the depressing reality that he was living. All the things he'd missed in the twenty-five years he'd spent in that dark room, wondering what had just happened. Everything was happening too quickly, and all the things Alex had wanted to do could now never happen. Standing up from the bench, Alex scanned the cemetery, his gaze falling upon his sister's small family. And, as he did, Alex realized something. Had he stayed alive, his parents probably would've never had another child. Crissy would never exist. Edward wouldn't have married her. Alexandria and Angel wouldn't have been born. Living or dead, Alex wasn't going to get to do or be what he wanted. But by dying, Alex had opened up an opportunity for his little sister. 

She didn't need her big brother. It was because Alex no longer existed that Crissy got to live. 

And Alex was alright with that. 

...

Julie walked up the steps up the stucco suburban house, a bag slung over her shoulder. The driveway was empty, so Julie worried that no one was home, but she had to try. If they weren't home today then she still had to try tomorrow. The guys were depending on her. Hesitating for just a second after she stopped on the doormat, Julie reached out and quietly tap-tapped on the front door. Twenty seconds passed. No answer. Julie knocked again, this time a bit louder. Ten seconds passed, and Julie was about to turn and leave when she heard footsteps. "Coming!" someone shouted from inside. 

The door was flung open, a tall, thin woman with thin, flighty blonde hair pulled up in a messy bun answered. "I am so sorry, I'm a mess! I was painting and I THOUGHT I heard the door but I wasn't sure." 

"It's fine! It's totally fine!" Julie assured her quickly. "Um...are you Crescentia Smith?" 

"Yes, but, please, call me Crissy." Crissy held out her hand. "And you are...?" 

"Julie," Julie replied, and she couldn't help but smile at Crissy's contagious grin. "Is...uh...is this a bad time? You were painting-" 

"No, no, it can wait. What do you need?" Crissy asked. 

Taking a deep breath, Julie took the bag off of her shoulder. "If you don't mind, I...have some questions to ask you. About your brother?" 

Crissy-who'd been fixing her hair-froze. "My brother?" 

"I'm really sorry if it's a sensitive topic for you but my friend and I are really trying to figure out what happened to him and his friends and we need to know a few things and you're our best source," Julie explained quickly. "I understand if you don't want to talk about him and that you didn't even know him, and so if you want me to I can go now." 

With a sigh, Crissy dropped her arms, letting her hair spill out of the bun, her smile returning but only slightly. "I...suppose that there are a few hours until I have to pick up the kids from school. Please, come in." 

"Thank you," Julie said quietly, hoisting the bag back onto her shoulder as she entered Crissy's spotless house. "This is a very nice house."

"Oh, thanks. Edward loves it out here, and this neighborhood is very nice. We're very fortunate to have this place." Crissy led Julie to the living room, gesturing to one of their sitting chairs. "Please, sit down. Do you need anything? Water?"

"No, I'm good." Julie sat down carefully on the chair. "Are you sure you're okay with me asking these things?" 

Crissy nodded. "It has been years since I first learned about him. I think it is time that I speak about him. So, what do you want to know?" 

"Well, first, I have some things to give to you." Julie unzipped the bag that was now in her lap, first pulling out a pair of drumsticks. "These were his. His band played in the studio that's at my house and...I think he'd want you to have these." 

Taking the drumsticks carefully into her hands, Crissy ran her thumb over the dents and chips in the wood from Alex playing the drums. "Thank you. This...this means a lot." 

"I have more," Julie continued, pulling out a pile of polaroids and a baby pink folder. "I found these too." 

Julie first handed Crissy the polaroids, which were various polaroid pictures taken of Alex. Mostly by Luke. Crissy looked at them, her eyes becoming wet. There were photos of Alex sleeping with sharpie doodles all over his face, standing in front of the Orpheum with "We're almost there!" written on the bottom, Alex practicing the drums, and so many other joyful moments of his life with Sunset Curve. 

"He actually looks happy," Crissy whispered. "None of the photos I have of him are like this." 

"What are they like?" Julie asked. 

"Well, he's smiling but...it looks fake. You can look in his eyes and see that he's miserable. That he's hurting but can't tell anyone that he is," Crissy sniffed. "I was so worried that he spent his whole life unhappy." 

"There's one last thing." Julie held out the baby pink folder. "There's a letter in there. For you. You can...wait to read it later." 

Wiping her eyes, Crissy took the folder into her hand, using her other's pointer finger to lightly trace Alex's faded name written on the cover of the folder. "Thank you, Julie. Thank you so, so much. What do you need to know? I'll tell you anything you need to know." 

"They're mostly questions about your parents," Julie told her. 

Crissy stiffened up at the word 'parents'. "Why's that?" 

"There's....rumors," Julie began. "About your parents." 

"What rumors?" Crissy was looking away and her voice was oddly quiet. 

"That's they're...involved with the murder of your brother." Julie had no light way to put it. "No one knows their location, and the detective that's working with us can't find any leads to them. And I figured that you wouldn't quite like a detective coming to your house to interrogate you so I came instead." 

Crissy's lips drew into a thin line. "If I tell you what I know, promise me that you'll keep my name anonymous." 

Julie nodded. "Of course." 

"If they know that I said anything..." Crissy finally looked over at Julie, taking a shaky breath. "It wouldn't be good." 

"I promise that I will not say that you were the one that said anything," Julie reassured her. 

Looking around as if nervous someone was watching, Crissy dropped her voice to a whisper. "My parents...they're obsessed with perfection. They didn't want anyone to know that they had a gay son or that they'd kicked him out. And so, my dad sold his soul to a demon. I found his side of the contract in his office when I was twelve, and it was written in his own blood. I even spoke to the demon he gave his soul to. Covington. That's what I think his last name was, anyways. He showed up when I picked up the contract and seemed pretty scared when I threatened to rip the contract to pieces. Apparently, those involved with the contract can't break it, but outside forces can. He was very willing to answer the questions I had." 

She paused to take a breath. 

"This contract involved Covington, my dad, and two other people. It was a powerful contract. A very serious one. My dad and these other two people shared one thing: they wanted my brother dead." 

"Whatever for?" Julie asked. "Alex is...was a very sweet person, at least from what I've learned. What motive did these other two people have?" 

"One of them was his ex-boyfriend," Crissy continued. "The other was the current boyfriend of the ex, who was thoroughly convinced by Alex's ex that Alex had been abusive and manipulative and deserved to die. The difference between my dad and them, though, was that these two had a second target. Luke Patterson. They hated him because he had started to date Alex just two days after Alex broke up with his ex." 

"Do you know their names?" 

"One, and it's the name of the boyfriend of the ex-boyfriend: Peter Qadir." 

"So it was Peter Qadir and the ex-boyfriend who killed Luke, Alex, and Reggie that night," Julie concluded. 

"No." Crissy shook her head, her breath coming in shaky again. "Covington told me that Peter Qadir was backing out of the contract. He didn't show up that night when they were planning on murdering my brother. Qadir did go to set up the bait, but he disappeared right before the ambush happened." 

"But...there was evidence of two murderers at the crime scene." Julie's stomach twisted as a different conclusion rose in her mind. 

"There was," Crissy confirmed. "The ex-boyfriend and...my dad. My dad killed Alex. He killed my brother and his own son."


End file.
